The Apron

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Apron by South Australian artist Karen Genoff is a tribute to the markets that were once such an important part of Adelaide’s East End. The installation was commissioned by the State Government and it was installed in 1997.

The sculpture’s focal point is a bronze cast apron like the aprons the area’s traders once wore. Hung up, it symbolises the end of a long day’s work and the close of market trading. Inside it is a docket book with the name, Cobbledick Bros., a family that had a long connection to the East End markets.  

The sculpture is very rustic. Objects such as fruit and vegetables and original black market bricks evoke the atmosphere of this place's past.

William Charlick set up the Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange in 1903. It was the second market to cater for the growing number of customers and traders in the East End. Market trading began in the 1860s and ended in 1988. The sign on the facade on East Terrace reading “Adelaide Fruit and Produce Exchange” is a memento of a once thriving enterprise.