On December 28, 1836 Governor John Hindmarsh founded a new colony, that of South Australia. The beach where he came ashore would be marked by a new city, named at a later date after the wife of King William IV, Queen Adelaide. This new city was held up as a vision for a greater society, one free of crime and poverty. Sharing none of the rebellious traditions of other convict colonies, it was to be a superior town; the moral, civic and constitutional model for a new community.

Unfortunately, though, the colony was set in turmoil, and from the beginning was dogged by political disagreements and thwarted by self-interested individuals, who placed private gain before public duty. From its inception, loftier moral goals were set in conflict with those of speculation and exploitation of lands for profit.

The capital owes a great deal to the visions of the colony's first Surveyor-General, Col. William Light, who carefully and with great foresight, set out plans for the new city which included extensive parklands and public spaces.

The city is perhaps the most English of Australia's cities, and today maintains much of the grandeur and style of its earlier days. But one of the major problems that faced the early settlers was that of slow surveying.

While the planners of South Australia had requested surveying be completed before the arrival of settlers, the Act for the Establishment of the Colony of South Australia stipulated that no action was to be undertaken until the specified sums of money had been collected from land sales. However ,on achievement of those sums, settlers were immediately transported to the new colony, and before the Surveyor-General had begun his first survey fifteen immigrant vessels had arrived in South Australia from England.

Light was faced with the impossible task of surveying all available harbour facilities, and was expected to determine and survey the site of the capital and secondary towns. Within a couple of months, he was also to begin the survey of rural lands.

Light's situation was rendered even more difficult by erroneous reports, and a lack of manpower and suitable equipment. However, after considerable work, new arrivals were instructed to camp temporarily at Holdfast Bay on the Adelaide Plain.

There was great conflict as to where to locate the settlement. Sturt's report had led to a recommendation of Holdfast Bay, though this conflicted with the reports of Flinders. Many later reports had been doctored by the planners of the South Australian Colony, who had sought to paint a glowing picture of the future settlement for the purposes of increasing land sales. Amongst great uncertainty, the South Australian Company had founded its first settlement at Nepean Bay on Kangaroo Island, but this was soon abandoned due to its unsuitability.

On his arrival and without consulting Light, Governor John Hindmarsh proclaimed Glenelg, off Holdfast Bay, as the official site of the colony on December 28, 1836. There was great support for Port Lincoln to be selected as the site of colony's main settlement. Hindmarsh was one of those who was very much in favour of this idea. However, his backing of Port Lincoln was based on its suitability as an easily defended naval facility rather than as an agricultural settlement. Two days after the colony of South Australia had been proclaimed, Light invited him to inspect the site above the Torrens River, which he had chosen for the colony.

As far as Light was concerned, Port Lincoln lacked a suitable water supply, and this is a fact which Hindmarsh had to accept. Still he was not content with the spot which Light had chosen. Neither Light nor Hindmarsh seemed to be prepared to give an inch, and so continued the battle over the site of the colony's principal settlement.

Hindmarsh then supported the idea of having the city located at Port Adelaide, determined that the city should have harbour facilities. Light ignored for the most part, Hindmarsh's wishes regarding this matter, and continued to work on his preferred site.

Naturally enough, this did nothing to resolve the problem, and Hindmarsh organised a vote on the issue in 1837, with people given the choice of having the city site moved to Port Adelaide. This vote was defeated, although it resulted in 29 acres of land at the port being surveyed. Finally, Light had won, and his choice of site for the capital was officially accepted.

Despite disputes, the city of Adelaide was surveyed in record time. However, Hindmarsh continued his hostilities. Giving up hope for his plans to have the city moved to Port Adelaide, he wrote to the Secretary of State in London in December 1837, seeking permission to have the city site moved instead to an area by Encounter Bay.

At this stage it really was beginning to look like he was trying to obsruct Light just for the sake of it. He did not succeed, and Light progressed in his work on the site of what was to become Adelaide.

Light also had problems with his incompetent assistant surveyor, who had returned to England pleading a better deal for the surveying party and cast doubts on Light's competence. His work was also obstructed by the demands of Resident Commissioner Fisher, who instructed Light to carry out works for influential preliminary land purchasers.

This proved detrimental to other settlers who wished to go about their business on the land, and further weakened the efficient use of Light's limited resources. Economic activity in the colony also suffered because a large number of the preliminary land orders were held by absentee owners who had purchased the land for speculation rather than development.

Light's problems continued - although he was able to survey, map and stake over 150 large sections of land (around 150,000 acres) within 15 months, the majority of the bona fide settlers had not been able to begin work on their land.

The London-based commissioners, dissatisfied with the level of progress and influenced by negative reports lodged by Hindmarsh and Kingston, set about trying to remove Light from his position of authority and have Kingston replace him.

This action resulted in Light's resignation and that of the whole surveying team, except for three assistants loyal to Kingston. Within a month of Light's resignation, Governor Hindmarsh was also relieved of his position to be replaced by Captain George Gawler, who also took on the position of Resident Commissioner. Gawler dismissed the incompetent Kingston and appointed Boyle Travers Finniss as surveyor general.

The settlement developed and expanded, largely as a result of the fertility of the Adelaide Plains, which were lightly wooded and easily cleared, allowing for successful farming by small land owners without the need to apply large amounts of capital to the land.

Under Gawler, many elegant stone and brick buildings began to grace Light's streets, with roads, bridges and harbour facilities being built, and through the introduction of banking, trade began to develop. A solid foundation of social overhead capital was in place, and as a result rapid development could occur.

As Adelaide expanded, it became the undisputed capital of South Australia, whose agricultural and mineral wealth had been hacked from an undeveloped land. Its success, however, had been achieved despite the activities of the private-enterprise administration who had established the colony.

It was only when George Grey succeeded Gawler as Governor, and took complete control of the colony in the name of the Crown, rather than deal with the South Australia Company, that South Australia truly boomed.

The relative prosperity of the colony was dramatically effected by the discovery of Gold in Victoria in 1851, as 16,000 South Australians left for Victoria. But the crisis was short lived, with much of the discovered gold being sent back to Adelaide. As the miners returned with their wealth, Adelaide became more flamboyant and extravagant in its design. Many palatial buildings in an Italian Renaissance style lined the streets, and as a result of its population and wealth, the colony was granted self government in 1857.

Adelaide rapidly acquired a civic pride and sense of identity, and the government quickly set about making the city more beautiful, giving it a greater sense of permanency, with the development of Botanical Gardens, new roads and bridges. It is the city's many superb gardens and magnificent buildings that draw many visitors to it today.


Adelaide is known as the City of Churches, and a visit to the city will soon make the reason clear. But Adelaide has many other attractions, from museums and galleries to historic sites and parks and gardens.

Explore the following links to discover more about Adelaide's attractions.

Historical Attractions
Churches and Cathedrals
Museums
Galleries
Sports
Parks and Gardens
Other Attractions

0 of a possible 0 points from 0 votes