SA Weekend 10 Year Special: Where South Australia was in 2009, where we are today and what’s next for our great state

Ten years ago twins Lily and Jack Abbott – and SA Weekend magazine – were born into a very different world. On Saturday, SA Weekend reminisces about the last 10 years: Where we were, where we are ... and what’s next for our great state.

• SA Weekend: South Australia’s best stories

• SA Weekend: A decade of news in South Australia, and abroad

• SA Weekend: Politics in Australia? It’s no party

Ten years ago twins Lily and Jack Abbott – and SAWeekend magazine – were born into a very different world.

Facebook was still a toddler, kids read books (the iPad was not released until 2010), and the Global Financial Crisis still had everyone terrified.

Since then, we’ve grown up together. Back in 2009, there was no redeveloped Adelaide Oval, no new Royal Adelaide Hospital or SAHMRI “cheesegrater”.

The Adelaide Festival was every second year.

The Southern Expressway still ran one way. Hardly anyone used methamphetamines. Women’s AFL didn’t exist, and Australia had never had a female Prime Minister.

Uber, Snapchat, and Instagram hadn’t been started. And it was a bit cooler – within their lifetime, the world has recorded the six hottest years on record.

SAWeekend has covered all these stories.

Ten years of SA Weekend. Picture: Matt Turner

As for the twins, whether they know it or not, these trends are shaping their future. But right now, their lives are a mix of old and new – school, footy, tennis, dance … and their first smartphones for Christmas.

“Technology is the thing that has changed the most in the last 10 years,” says their mum, Nicole.

“And, if I am honest, I do fear a bit for the kids in terms of social media and how quickly technology is developing.”

Other things have moved fast, too. Like our politics. Perhaps it was prescience that led us to put Julia Gillard on our first cover. Within a year she was Prime Minister.

Since that first issue we have produced more than 500 magazines, with award-winning writing and photography, and a focus on local people and issues.

It’s been fun to look back.

Adelaide feels different, more confident, in 2019.

There’s the revamped Oval, the North Tce biomedical precinct, laneway bars with 50 types of gin, world renowned restaurants like Orana, a madder March than ever, and a big glass Cube in McLaren Vale.

Much has changed.

One thing never will – our commitment to bringing you the best weekend reading every Saturday in SAWeekend.