History of Adelaide Through Street Names
Streets Named on the 23rd May, 1837
Angas Street J15
Named after George Fife Angas an early supporter of the colony. Previously he had been a shipping merchant to NSW and Tasmania. Originally appointed as one of the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia in May 1835, he was later obliged to resign through a 'conflict of interest' when he floated the joint stock company The South Australian Company. This land company organised the despatch of the first three ships to sail to South Australia to run their planned whaling operations on Kangaroo Island.
Angas was a deeply religious man who assisted the immigration of the first Germans to South Australia under the leadership of Pastor Kavel. These Prussian migrants had been subject to religious persecution in their own country. Through his patronage, the Dresden Missionary Society sent missionaries to South Australia to 'christianise' the Aboriginal people and to learn their languages.
Angas settled in South Australia in 1851 and was in Parliament for 16 years. During this time he helped mould our first self-government Constitution of 1853 on liberal principles. He originated the Union Bank of Australia; refused a Knighthood in recognition of his efforts in the founding of New Zealand; gave £20,000 to the University of Adelaide among many other philanthropic deeds. He died in 1879 aged 90 years. Angaston, in the Barossa Valley is named after him as is Angas Inlet at Pt. Adelaide. Rosetta Head at Encounter Bay, the Company's first whaling station, is named after his wife.
Archer Street H5
Barnard Street E5
Barton Terrace E2
Brown Street F17
Buxton Street D4
Carrington Street L15
This street was named Willoughby street by the street naming committee. Sir Henry Willoughby an MP, had at first opposed the South Australian Bill on its first reading, but on being informed of its philanthropic intentions, convinced other MP's to change their vote. Through the interference of Governor Hindmarsh the following day, the name was changed to Archer. It has been assumed that Archer was a friend from the navy, but he was only a land owner who gave Governor Hindmarsh some sheep.
Named for Edward Barnard, a Colonisation Commissioner of 1835. He headed the Commissioners Finance Committee which secured the financial loans for South Australia from the British Treasury.
John Barton Hack, a Chichester quaker, arrived in South Australia in February 1837 on the Isabella. This pioneer ship had sailed to Holdfast Bay via Tasmania, where livestock were taken on board. Consequently, Hack became the first settler to land bullocks and sheep at Glenelg on what we now call Wigley Reserve. He was the first man also to offer transport from the beach to the new capital city.
Hack was an experienced farmer in England. With the support of many of his Society of Friends, a quaker organisation, he was able to bring capital and pastoral experience to the colony. In 1839 he purchased the government survey vessel Rapid for over £2,000. Over many years he assisted other settlers on the land and later as a contractor. He died on the 4th October, 1884.
Named for John Brown our first Immigration Officer. Brown was among the strongest supporters of Gouger in founding the colony. An avid republican and chartist, a believer in the 'liberty of the press', reconciliation, self government and other political reforms, his influence on South Australia was enormous.
John Brown with his wife and daughter, arrived at Holdfast Bay on the Africaine on the 8th November 1836. He, together with Gouger, decided to accept Colonel Light's advice that this was the spot where the colony would be founded.
His job as Immigration Officer was to greet the new settlers on arrival at the tent camp at Glenelg and assist in placing them in employment. The Brown's camp became a gathering place. They were also praised for fostering good relations between the settlers and the local aboriginal people. Brown continued to assist new arrivals at Emigration Square in the west park lands long after his term had expired as there was no one else to take on the job. He also refused to become Protector of Aborigines deeming this to be the responsibility of the Crown.
John Brown was the first colonial officer suspended by Governor Hindmarsh over his refusal to bury a dead immigrant. He remained Hindmarsh's most vehement detractor over the next 3 years. In 1840 he became a member of the first Adelaide Municipal Corporation and was for some years the editor of The South Australian newspaper - a political foil to Stevenson's Register. George Stevenson was Governor Hindmarsh's private secretary.
Brown later became manager of the Adelaide Life Assurance & Guarantee Company until failing health necessitated his resignation. He was killed in a fatal accident in King William street in 1879 aged 78. His diary of the early years of the colony in the State Library deserves more study.
After Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton MP, 1786-1845. His mother was a member of The Society of Friends, where he was introduced to the Quaker family of the Gurney's. He married a sister of Elizabeth Fry (nee Gurney) and became involved in the Quaker campaign for social reform. As an MP he joined Elizabeth Fry in her campaign for prison reform; the abolition of capital punishment; and the abolition of the slave trade - finally passed in 1833.
His direct involvement in South Australian affairs was as the first President of the Aborigines Protection Society, formed in England in 1835. This Society campaigned for the legal rights of native peoples as reflected in Governor Hindmarsh's first Proclamation of 28th December 1836.
His grandson of the same name, became Governor of South Australia in 1895.
Lord Carrington (John Abel Smith), was a member of the National Colonisation Society of 1830 and was an active campaigner for the parliamentary sanction required for the Colony. His support continued through the financial crisis of 1841. He was a member of the Select Committee which wrote off all the debts owed by South Australia.