It was a lifelong wish of George Fife Angas, one of the founders of South
Australia, that a history be written about his adopted homeland, South
Australia. Sadly having died in 1879 he never saw that dream fulfilled, as it wasn't
until 1893 when Edwin Hodder wrote his book
The History of South Australia From its Foundation to the Year of its Jubilee with A Chronological Summary of all
the Principal Events of Interest up to Date. This two volume set with over 800
pages, is primarily based on the papers of George Fife Angas.
Divided into sixteen chapters, topics covered include: early explorations;
attempts to found a colony; the pioneer settlers; administrations of
Captain Hindmarsh, Colonel Gawler, Captain George Grey, Major Robe, Sir Henry
Edward Fox Young, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, Sir Dominick Daly,
Lieutenant-Colonel Hamley, Sir James Fergusson, Sir Anthony Musgrave, General
Sir William F.D. Jervois and Sir William C.F. Robinson.
A special feature of this book is the 'Chronological Summary of Events'.
Events included have been chosen as they appear to 'mark progressive stages in the
development of the colony'. Starting with 28 December 1836 with the arrival of
Governor Hindmarsh, and concluding on 7 November 1892 with Sir John Morphett's
death. This section alone is over 220 pages, and covers a whole range of topics,
which include many appointments and deaths. It is guaranteed you'll learn new facts
about South Australia after reading this!
A few sample entries are below (but have been condensed for this extract):
- Oct 1837, arrival of the first Congregational minister
- May 1838, first execution, the gallows was a tree on the parklands
- Sep 1844, arrival of 200 German emigrants
- Jun 1845, discovery of the Burra Burra mine
- Jul 1847, £160,000 assigned for immigration purposes from England, at the
rate of one per month
- Jul 1848, four of the five bushrangers who escaped from Van Diemen's Land
apprehended on Kangaroo Island
- Jan 1850, 'Register' issued as a daily newspaper
- Nov 1855, first electric telegraph operational between the City and the
Port
- Feb 1861, £500 collected and sent to the sufferers in the great Indian
famine
- Dec 1871, thermometer 180F in the shade and 153F in the sun
- Jan 1871, great damage done to the southern portion of the overland
telegraph from extraordinarily high floods
For anyone who wants to know the history of South Australia, and the people
who made it happen this classic work will be welcomed.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This CD has been
bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged
and printed out if required.
