In January 1836 Colonel William Light was appointed Surveyor-General of South Australia. The Colonization Commissioners 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.
This letter was written by William Light from 'Gulf St Vincent, Lat.34.43 Long. 138.3'. Dated 22 November 1836 and sent to his friend George Jones, the letter describes the site Light had chosen for the new settlement and includes a sketch of the locality along with an enthusiastic description of the area.
Jones was an eminent British artist whose portrait of Light painted in 1823 is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Light's letter to Jones pre-dates the official decision on the location of the capital by five weeks. It was written on board the Rapid on 22 November 1836, the day after Light completed an exploration of the southern reaches of the Port River (Gulf St. Vincent).
The letter confirms that by this stage Light fully intended the settlement to be located in the general area where Adelaide now stands, although he was still obliged to consider other places, including Encounter Bay and Port Lincoln. Writing to a friend Light gives a different emphasis than in his letter to the South Australian Commissioners written the same day, in which he indicates his preference for the site of Adelaide in less definite terms and adds his obligation to '... look at other places first, before I fix on the capital, yet I feel assured...that I shall only be losing time.'
The letter to Jones shows that Light was excited and full of optimism about the potential of the harbour and the Adelaide plain '...to make this one of the finest settlements in the whole world'. A rough sketch shows that he intended the site of the capital to be south of the Port River and several miles inland from Holdfast Bay. The sketch includes notes on the terrain and possible uses of the land. A proposed canal connecting the city with Port Adelaide is also shown.
The letter also indicates Light's frame of mind at this critical time, his optimism tempered with exasperation at the response of some settlers to the choice of site. Light anticipates that there will be opposition to the choice of the site, but is confident that history will prove him correct:
...I have no doubts all will go on well, it will I am sure after I am dead and then, perhaps not till then the world will give me credit for being resolute now.
Colonel William Light played a pivotal role in the selection of the site for Adelaide and in surveying that site. Vocal opponents to the choice of the site for Adelaide included Governor John Hindmarsh who was keen to have the 'first colony' near the mouth of the River Murray, and officials of the South Australian Company who preferred a harbour side location. Others like his friend and colleague Boyle Travers Finniss, saw Light's refusal to submit to this opposition as critical to the success of the colony: 'If Colonel Light had not stood firm...the first colonists would have been ruined, the capital of the Company would have perished, and public feeling would have ruined the Commissioners.' More recently there has been debate as to who actually determined the site for Adelaide.
Most of Light's papers, journals and sketches were destroyed when his house burnt down on 23 January 1839. It is fortunate that this letter has survived as an important addition to our knowledge of the history of the selection of the location for the capital of the new colony, and to our understanding of the character of the founder of the city of Adelaide.
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