The great interest in spiritualism and seances which was generated in the late nineteenth century found a ready outlet in the pages of the South Australian times. However originally the newspaper focussed strongly on sports and politics. The newspaper was a continuation of City and country, which in its final years had been owned by Charles McMullen. McMullen obviously decided to change the focus of City and country, and began under a new title in March 1883. In May 1884 he took on a partner, George Barrow of the South Australian herald. (Unfortunately no copies of Barrow's earlier newspaper appear to have survived.) Barrow was the youngest son of J.H. Barrow, founder of the Advertiser. The two newspapers were combined under McMullen's title, and it was a few months later that the topic of spiritualism was first raised in letters and articles. Barrow, as editor stated that he was a believer in the phenomena. The South Australian times also contained regular, lengthy reports of local sport, especially football, and included theatre news. (These two subjects almost always seemed to go together in nineteenth century newspapers.) Politically, the editor was outspokenly against the government of Thomas Playford senior. The newspaper apparently ceased at the end of 1885, although no prior notice of this was given in its pages.

In April 1885 a heated correspondence between the musician Christian Reimers (a spiritualist), and Kirkham Evans of the Y.M.C.A. (a sceptic) began in the pages of the Times. Evans had practised hypnotism and took a scientific approach to the subject. Earlier in the year the major city newspapers had been full of reports of Evans de-bunking of Reimers' spiritualist sessions. Evans' letters appeared in several Adelaide newspapers at the time, and the satirical paper the Lantern also made many comments. A professional spiritualist, Thomas Glaister, added his views and many other Adelaide residents joined the debate. The issue of the South Australian times for 18 July 1885 contained an extra two pages to accommodate the barrage of letters to the editor about the subject. The following week Barrow wrote an article about the parliamentary elections suggesting that Samuel Tomkinson M.P. was making money from corrupt land deals. Unfortunately the article was deemed libellous, and Barrow was sentenced to six months in jail. (South Australian register, 16 October 1885, p. 7)

Barrow, George Liversage

Barrow, John Henry, 1817-1874

Evans, Kirkham, d. 1930

Glaister, Thomas

McMullen, Charles

Playford, Thomas, 1837-1915

Reimers, Christian

Tomkinson, Samuel, 1816-1900

City and country (Adelaide, S. Aust.)

South Australian advertiser (Adelaide, S. Aust.)

South Australian herald (Adelaide, S. Aust.)

Young Men's Christian Association of Adelaide (S. Aust.)