This rare photograph of the inside of the Ruthven Mansions was taken by J C Rawling and published in the Critic (1897 – 1924). It shows the Café Rubeo on the evening of Tuesday, July 29, 1914, and records the first gathering of the Methodist Ladies College Old Scholars Association. We have attempted to identify one or two present, but it can only be a guess.  Nor is the list of who attended complete. ( Edited and colourised by Kelly Bonato of A Colourful History. Copyright © Kelly Bonato 2026)

The picture clearly shows the internal layout of the cafe. Glimpses of the original boxed in doorways and surrounding leadlight show how it was originally two retail spaces.  The beams across the ceiling and central line of pillars indicate the space was built from reinforced concrete. The lighting and hardware were copper, very on trend for the time, while the walls were painted pale green with a deep green Walton’s Lincrusta dado.

Around 100 women, wearing a variety of colourful gowns sat at long tables which had been tastefully decorated with comports of apples and oranges alongside bouquets of red geraniums and maidenhair fern, red being the colour for MLC gatherings. The tables exhibited elegantly starched linen napkins and matching tablecloths. The stemmed venetian glassware and imported silverware described at the café’s opening can be seen. The evenings program, printed with the school crest and an appropriate quote from Longfellow were folded and held together by a pretty red bow. The place settings indicate three courses were served. 

The guests were entertained by Miss Ethel Annells on pianoforte. Miss Annells, who wore a dress of white silk with a white net on the bodice, had come second in the University of Adelaide Theory of Music examination in 1906 while studying at the school.   Other entertainment was provided by Misses Hilda Gill, Ella Collins and Jean Robertson.

A toast was made by Miss (Sarah) Elizabeth Jackson who in 1911 attained a B.A. from the University of Adelaide, winning the Tinline Scholarship for English history. She would later go on to teach at the school.

Miss Jackson observed that a school was more than its buildings and equipment and more than the teachers­­- which she remembered with gratitude. Rather, it was the girls themselves, she said, who impressed their character on the life of the college, and it was they who would build its traditions.

Miss Gertrude Mann, in pale pink, Miss Ivy Roberts and Miss Dorothy Gilbert also spoke.

The headmistress, Miss Mary Emma Patchell, BA. B.Sc. had been appointed just three years earlier in 1911. Wearing a white satin gown with over-dress of black lace (right, closest to camera?), proposed a toast to the King and Queen. After the speeches she thanked those assembled, assuring the women were doing their college credit by the places they were taking in university, professional and home life, remarking that “Australian women possessed many privileges which women of other countries had not, and they should justify their position by making the best use of those privileges.”

She was speaking from experience. After completing her university studies in Adelaide, earning a BA in 1906 and a BSc in 1907 Miss Patchell spent time at Oxford where she undertook a teacher’s training course.  She then travelled to Italy, America and Canada where she met with her cousin Prof. Frank Adams who was Dean of McGill University. She would eventually lead the school for 17 years.