A series of 12 recently discovered photographs of the Adelaide skyline in the 1920s have revealed an amazing, previously unrecorded insight into the history of the city at the time, including a CBD power station and sprawling mixture of industry, commerce and residential life.

Looking North: King William Street with trams, Prince Alfred Hotel and Adelaide Town Hall pre-clock, the Stock Exchange and Beehive Corner Building can all be seen. Adelaide City Council Archive 6321 item 001 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Looking North East: The Grand Hotel, Adelaide Arcade, Harris Scarfe and the North Terrace University can be seen in this photo taken from the GPO clock tower in the early 1920s. Can you spot the washing that is hanging out on a roof top that shows the mixture of industry and residential areas of the city in the time? Adelaide City Archives 6321 item 002 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Looking West: Franklin Street reaches to the Park Lands, the SA Farmers Co-Op Union, the Central Methodist Mission Church and Saint Patrick Church. Adelaide City Council Archives 6321 item 0011 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Looking South: Victoria Square, Kings Theatre, the Courts Building, Moore's Department Store (now Courts Building) and the Southern Park Lands. Adelaide City Council Archives 6321 item 008 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Looking North West: the King William Street skyline, Waymouth Street and in the distance Adelaide Oval and North Adelaide can be seen. Adelaide City Council Archives 6321 item 0012 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Looking East: Flinders Street, Pilgrim Church and the old power station spews a stream of smoke from the coal fires across the skyline from where Tandanya is now located. Adelaide City Council Archives 6312 item 004 (Adelaide City Council Archives)

Discovered in a filing box left in the old City Engineers Department of the Adelaide City Council in 2011, it is believed the photographs were taken from the bell tower of the General Post Office in the city.

Judging from the skyline and buildings, Adelaide City Council archivist Rob Thorton believes the photos were taken in either 1921 or 1922.

The first detailed series of photographs taken of the skyline since a panoramic shot taken in the 1866, the photos detail the progress of expansion and development over the five decades.

"We were amazed that these had lain dormant for all this time.

"We spent quite a lot of time almost drooling over them," Rob laughed," because it was such a comprehensive record of what the city looked like at that time."

Black and White Adelaide - A collection of panoramic photographs show eight of the 12 photographs, enlarged and reproduced on canvas in the northern gallery of the first floor of the Adelaide Town Hall, 128 King William Street, from 12 May till 30 May 2014, as part of the About Time Festival.

Admission is free.