Colonel William Light 1786 - 1839
The Founder of Adelaide
Deeply feeling the importance of the trust imposed upon me by the Commissioners when they confided solely to me the task of selecting a site for the capital of this province; and feeling yet more the fact that the well-being of thousands is now connected with, and may, in a great measure, depend, upon the correctness of the decision I then made, I am anxious, if possible, to convince the Commissioners and the public that I endeavoured scrupulously to do my duty, and that my exertions have been conscientiously directed to the good of the colony.
The reasons that led me to fix Adelaide where it is I do not expect to be generally understood or calmly judged of at present. My enemies, however, by disputing their validity in every particular, have done me the good service of fixing the whole of the responsibility upon me. I am perfectly willing to bear it; and I leave it to posterity, and not to them, to decide whether I am entitled to praise or to blame.
(Theberton Cottage, near Adelaide, 28th March, 1839.)
Only the last paragraph of the above quotation appears on Light's statue on Montefiore Hill, overlooking Adelaide. It is taken from the Preface of his Brief Journal.
Light's full statement cannot be fairly judged without some understanding of his Instructions from the Commissioners.
His instructions which relate specifically to choosing the capital site are No.s 14 15 and 16. (See Light's Instructions - Homepage)
Some further extracts from Light's Brief Journal help to clarify the reasons for his choice of the site of Adelaide.
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December 29th 1836
Employed nearly all day examining the plain, and looking out for the best situation for the capital. I was delighted with the appearance of the country, and the supply of fresh water we were certain of possessing; at four p.m., I had the pleasure of seeing the Governor and Mr. Fisher, and we agreed on going the following day to look at the place I had selected for the capital.
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December 30th
His Excellency expressed his sense of the beauty of the place, but said it was too far from the harbour, and after much reasoning on both sides, I agreed to walk with him by the river and see if another spot nearer the harbour could be found more convenient for trade although it might lose much in other points; we determined at last on placing the capital near the river, about a mile and a half lower down the bank....On examining the following day some distance up and down the river, I saw evident marks of the river overflowing its banks, and this made me resolve on the first site I had chosen,...
...Now I did pay due regard to the suggestions of the Governor, for that suggestion caused me to alter my first selection much against the grain, for we were only gaining a distance of a one and a half miles over an uninterrupted plain, and for this sacrificing the most beautiful position for a town in the country.
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From this time (3rd January 1837) to the 11th January, I was employed in looking repeatedly over the ground, and devising in my own mind the best method of laying out the town according to the course of the river, and the nature of the ground; this being fixed, I commenced with Mr. Kingston and Mr Neale only. It was generally supposed that planning and measuring out a thousand acres for a capital was so easy a job that it would be completed in a few days... ...bear in mind, that we were in a country perfectly in a state of nature, and the obstructions for this work were greater on this particular spot than any other part of the plain. It may be asked then, "Why choose it?" I answer, "Because it was on a beautiful and gently rising ground, and formed altogether a better connection with the river than any other place."
The correspondence of the time was generally very adverse to Colonel Light's selection of the site for Adelaide. The distance from the sea was urged as a fatal objection. A letter from the Governor's secretary addressed to the public proposed that Light move the capital to the harbour. In response, Light called upon the dissatisfied landholders to requisition the Governor to summon a public meeting.
In this manner the subject can be calmly and
dispassionately considered, and the truth or the fallacy
of the opinions I hold, may be ascertained.
This public meeting took place in Edward Stephens tent
at the historic landing place Holdfast Bay, on the
10th February, 1837.
The 3rd Motion:- That it is the opinion of this meeting that the site at present selected for the chief town of the colony, being at a considerable distance from navigable waters, is not such as they were led to expect would be chosen.
After further discussions, the following amendment was moved to the third resolution:- That this meeting considers that in the site selected by the Surveyor General for the first town, he has secured, in a most satisfactory manner, those advantages which the commissioners and the first purchasers in England contemplated as essential,...
Upon a division taking place, the numbers were:-
For the amendment - 218
Against it - 127
Majority in favor - 81
On the 15th March the method for drawing the Town Sections was decided, and on the 17th the order of choice was determined by lot; March 23rd, the preliminary Town Sections were chosen.