The Colonisation of Adelaide

The site for Adelaide was chosen by Colonel William Light beside the River Torrens. During the following year (1837) Colonel Light completed the survey of Adelaide city centre and designed the city's grid layout.

1838 South Australia’s first customs house was built on a low sand hill among mangroves at the Port Creek Settlement. The Port Creek Settlement was the colony’s initial landing site and established a short distance upriver from the present-day location of Port Adelaide.

1839 Edward John Eyre began his explorations of the Flinders Ranges and beyond.

Land sales for the year totalled 47,932 acres at £1 per acre. Cattle and sheep brought into the colony from New South Wales by Joseph Hawdon, Edward John Eyre and Charles Sturt brought total livestock to approximately 480 horses, 2,500 cattle and 28,000 sheep. 86 acres was under cultivation, including 20 acres of wheat.

Cows sold at £40 each, bullocks £100 a pair, and sheep £3 to £4 per head.

Imported Provisions cost: meat, 1s. 6d. to 2s. per lb.; bread, 2s. 6d. a 4lb. loaf ; flour, £100 a ton ; and potatoes £20 a ton.

At the commencement of 1839, the first emigrants bought town lands while the good land, for a distance of about 25 miles round Adelaide, was surveyed and divided it into sections.

Some holders of land orders bought up well placed sections, and getting them subdivided into smaller lots, they advertised them as towns or villages, such as Islington, Kensington, Brighton, Thebarton, Albert Town, Paynham, laid out by Mr. Payne, and Walkerville laid out by Mr. Walker. Many lots were bought from £20. to £50 per acre. Land was also bought, fenced, and put under crop.

The importers of actual food were paid in any gold remaining in South Australia until, in 1840, it became almost impossible to effect the sale of any species of property.

Governor Gawler created employment with infrastructure projects, but consequently burdened the colony with heavy debts to pay for the labour and materials.

Under this scheme, labouring classes received free passage if they were aged 15 to 30 years of age and had two references.

Preference was given to married applicants.

At this time persons who elected to pay their own passage paid as follows:

Governor Grey arrived in 1841 with instructions to reduce the expenditure in every possible way. The Government Officers were either thinned or dismissed, and those who remained had their salaries reduced; the labourers on the Government works were discharged, and the men on the extensive surveys were packed off.

The expenditure, which had increased to £180,000 in 1840, was reduced to less than £30,000 a year by 1842 but numbers of workmen were thrown out of employment, and the governor was compelled to borrow £3000 from New South Wales to enable him to carry on the Government.

However, public works did begin again and numbers of poor people were put to work on the roads leading to the east.

1842 Copper was discovered at Kapunda.

1845 Copper was discovered at Burra.

1845 Port Pirie was founded on the upper Spencer Gulf.

"In 1847 the amount of population in the city (north and south) was 7413 : of these, 66 are represented as land proprietors, merchants, bankers, and stockholders ; 37, clerks or overseers to the above; 60, professional persons; 22, clerks and assistants to the above ; 43, manufacturers, brewers, or millers ; 29, clerks or assistants to the above ; 284, shopkeepers and other retail dealers ; 141 , clerks and assistants to the above ; 1500, mechanics, as brickmakers, brick layers, smiths, carpenters or joiners, masons, shoe makers, cabinet-makers, plasterers, harness-makers, tailors, tanners, miners, sawyers, carriers, domestic servants, &c., &c. Of the occupation of the rest no return has" been made, most of them being women and children ."

* South Australia, its Advantages and Resources. By. G. B. Wilkinson .