On 24 November 1883, the East-End Market Hotel reflected the Australian surge in union participation in the 1880s, and increasing globalization, when growers and market salesmen met at the venue to discuss forming an association. A circular explaining the association’s vision was distributed before the meeting, which resulted in a large attendance. The South Australian Advertiser described the meeting:
Mr JF Pascoe was voted to the chair, and in explaining the objects of the association said the market gardeners of the colony required unity more than any other class of men, as they had so many viscissitudes to contend with. In the past they had been a divided body ,and as they all recognised that unity was strength the [sic] ought to band together to protect their mutual interests… If they intended to keep up with the opening markets in the different parts of the world which were daily coming closer to them they must wake up. The voyage was a trifle to England these days, and if they were careful they could send a deal of their surplus fruit to the home market. They were well aware that they grew more fruit than they could sell in the colony, and therefore it behoved them to look further afield for a new market… The fruits of South Australia were well and favorably known as some of the finest in the world.
Attendants at the meeting decided to call their organisation ‘The Gardeners’ and Market Salesmen’s Assocation’, and the following men were appointed to a committee: Mr Pascoe, Mr Noices, Mr Stacy, Mr T Playford, Mr W Lewis, Mr HH Hanton, Mr Ware, Mr K Smith, Mr Baker, Mr T Lock, Mr R Grimes, Mr C Newman Jr, Mr Batty, Mr Cook, Mr JE Rowell, Mr W Jennings, Mr HC Quick, Mr J Williams, Mr WN Waite (East-End Market Hotel manager), Mr H Bennett, Mr W Williams, Mr Bailey, Mr T Johnson Jr, Mr G Squires, Mr J Kemp, Mr G Hann, Mr J Bishop, Mr J Watkins, Mr Crammond, Mr J Green, Mr W Smith, Mr J Moulds, Mr W Moulds, Mr Wertheimer, Mr Grimley, Mr C Ey, Mr J Curnow, Mr AJ Trebilcock, Mr J Hammer, and Mr J Hannam. Mr JF Pascoe was elected president, and Mr G Noice and Mr HB Hanton were elected as vice-presidents.
On 6 August 1884, ‘market gardeners, salesmen, and hawkers’ met at the East-End Market Hotel to plan the upcoming East-End Market picnic. Members of The Gardeners’ and Market Salesmen’s Association (Mr Pascoe, Mr Bennett, Mr T Lock, Mr G Hammer) came to the meeting, and Association President Mr Pascoe proposed that, since all market gardeners and salesmen could join the association, the organisation should organise the picnic, especially since it could increase the prize-money for the sports at the event. Funds set aside for the picnic of £52 were given to the association, which would manage the picnic.
On 1 November, the Market Gardeners’ Society met at the East-End Market Hotel, and President Mr JF Pascoe ‘expressed regret that the market gardeners of the colony had shown an indisposition towards union. He urged them to forget that there had been a split amongst themselves, and to unite heartily to serve their common interests’. Pascoe noted that the society’s negotiations with the government over importing and exporting fruit had fallen apart due to division among gardeners, and ‘hoped that past experience would make them wiser in the future’. A committee of forty men was elected for the following year, and Mr JF Pascoe was re-elected as President. After the meeting concluded, the Mayor of Adelaide distributed the prizes of the East-End Market Picnic’s sports contests. Prizes included ‘silver cups, a very handsome saddle and bridle, [and] jewellery’. The Mayor praised the gardeners on the quality of their fruit and flowers, which many visitors had complimented during their stay in Adelaide and which ‘had a tendency to give [the visitors] a good opinion of the colony’. He also noted the long laborious hours gardeners spent as part of their profession.
The next year, on 9 November 1885, the association held their annual general meeting to recap the East-End Market Picnic. Mr JF Pascoe, the organisation’s retiring president, shared that the picnic probably earned about £50 for the association. At the meeting, Mr W Merchant was elected president, and Mr H Bennetts and Mr J Mines were elected vice-presidents. Mayor Mr W Bundey gave out the prizes from the picnic, and promised to donate a prize for the picnic next year.
On 6 November 1886, the association had their annual meeting, again at the East-End Market Hotel. Mr Hanton proposed that the Market Gardeners’ Association end after that financial year, and give all moneys to a newly-formed Gardeners’ and East-End Market Picnic Committee. While Mr Green seconded this idea, the proposal was denied by a large majority. The committee for the next year was elected, and Mayor W Bundey distributed the prizes from that year’s picnic. Upon thanking those who donated prizes, Mr JF Pascoe singled out Mr J Jamieson’s donated gift of a tandem harness as ‘very fine’.
On 10 December 1887, the Gardeners and Market Salesmen’s Association met at the East-End Market Hotel to elect new officers, thank the retiring ones, and to discuss business. Attendants talked of a disease affecting the apple, pear, and strawberry crops, and ‘decided that the President and Secretary should wait upon the Premier and ask for government assistance to discover the nature of and a remedy for the disease, which has gradually been growing worse for several years’.
The organisation held their annual meeting at the East-End Market Hotel on 3 November 1888 to summarise the latest picnic, where £100 14s. in prize money was won, and gifts worth £64 4s. 6d. were given away. President Mr Wigzell, who was re-elected for next year, distributed the prizes. The Register reported that ‘Mr R Ey took for the third time the silver cup, given by the Market Company, for the best horse on the ground. Mr T Lock took Sir ET Smith’s trophy for the second best horse’. Mayor J Shaw distributed the prizes for the picnic on 30 November 1889 at the East-End Market Hotel and complimented the association on the success of their annual picnic.
In 1901, the Gardeners’ and Market Salesmen’s Association constructed an arch to celebrate the arrival of Prince George, Duke of York and Cornwall, and his wife Mary when they visited Adelaide on their Australian tour.
On 26 March 1903, gardeners and salesmen of the market association played a cricket match at the Norwood Oval; the salesmen won by 58 runs. Participants then had lunch at the East-End Market Hotel.
The last available record of the association comes from 1912, when a girl at the East-End Market Picnic (organised by the Gardeners’ and Market Salesmen’s Association) dressed up a goat, and hitched on a cart furnished as a fruit and vegetable stand; she won a prize for comedy. The 1904 creation of the South Australian Fruitgrowers’ Association likely played a role in the Gardeners’ and Market Salesmen’s Association demise.
