View of John Martin's Christmas pageant moving east along Rundle Street, with the frontage of the store on the left of the photograph. The floats and sets visible include 'Old King Cole', butterflies, 'Hickory Dickory Dock' and a band.

The second of the post-war pageants, the 1946 procession drew large numbers of appreciative families. Seen here travelling down Rundle Street (before it became a pedestrian mall) the pageant is making its way to the 'Magic Cave' at John Martin's.

The pageant route has varied little since its inception in 1933. At this time, the pageant started in Angas Street, travelled up King William Street to Grenfell Street and then through Hindmarsh Square to Rundle Street and North Terrace.

With the growth of the pageant, soon a larger space was required for assembly and set-up, so in 1952 the starting point was moved from Angas Street to South Terrace near the parklands.

In 1975, shortly after the conversion of part of Rundle Street into a mall, the pageant route altered, instead travelling up and down Pirie and Grenfell Streets and back to King William until it reached North Terrace.

In 2007 the pageant will change course once more, moving along Wakefield Street through Victoria Square, with the aim of giving spectators better views and more locations from which to see this annual spectacle.

John Martin & Co.

'60th John Martin's State Bank Christmas pageant 1933-1993', Sunday Mail, 31 October 1993, 24 p. supp.

Adelaide's once-a-year day, Adelaide: Commercial Printing House, 1978.

'Street pageant delights crowd', Advertiser, 20 November 1933, p. 16.

A touch of magic [videorecording] : [the story behind the Christmas Pageant], West Lakes?, S. Aust. : Cine News Productions, 1993.

Credit Union Christmas pageant

John Martin's first pageant: 1933 [State Library of South Australia]