Crocker's The elements of land surveying includes diagrams, charts and 'fold out' copper engravings, with the frontispiece engraving hand-coloured. Light's copy is signed 'Wm Light' inside the front cover.

In January 1836 Colonel William Light was appointed Surveyor-General of South Australia. Sailing from England in the Rapid , he arrived in South Australia in the following August. The South Australian Colonization Commissioners had instructed Light to examine some 1500 miles of coastline, select the best site for settlement, and survey the town site and country sections - all with limited staff and resources.

After first surveying Encounter Bay and rejecting this as an unsatisfactory harbour, as he later rejected Port Lincoln, Light examined St Vincent's Gulf and found the entrance to the Port River. Impressed with the fertile plains and the water supply of the River Torrens, the site for the new settlement was selected. Light played a pivotal role in the selection of the site for Adelaide and in surveying that site.

After Adelaide and harbour land had been surveyed, the country land surveying began, and by June 1838, 150,000 acres had been completed. However, there was controversy over the apparent slowness of Light's trigonometric survey. His requests for extra staff and equipment were refused and he and most of his staff resigned in late June in protest against an order to speed up the work by conducting temporary 'running surveys'.

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