254 



AUSTRALIA. 



distinction many years in the navy as well as the 

 army, was appointed to the command of her, and 

 entrusted with the important duty of selecting the 

 site for the capital of the province, and to mark 

 out the ground for the first town, before the arri- 

 val of the governor and the main body of emigrants. 

 The Rapid also carried out two assistant surveyors, 

 a surgeon, and a few labourers, and had on board a 

 set of surveying instruments, with provisions for 

 twelve months, besides clothing, ordnance stores, 

 surgical instruments, medicines, &c. The Cygnet 

 arrived at Nepean Bay on the llth of September, 

 1836, and there landed the store-keeper, gardeners, 

 and females, and disembarked such stores as would 

 not be required during the surveys. On reaching 

 Nepean Bay, colonel Light took command of the 

 whole expedition, and after examining Kangaroo 

 Island, and exploring the entire eastern coast of 

 Gulf St Vincent, he visited Port Lincoln in Spen- 

 cer's Gulf, where the Buffalo, with the governor 

 and principal officers of the colony on board was 

 expected ; but upon examination, it was found that 

 in the immediate vicinity of this port there were 

 no requisites whatever for a capital. There was 

 no good or clear land, and but one spring of water, 

 and that below high water mark. These circum- 

 stances, therefore, together with the difficulties 

 and dangers encountered at the entrance of the 

 Gulf and in the immediate vicinity of Port Lincoln, 

 determined the surveyor-general upon fixing the 

 site for the capital on the eastern coast of Gulf St 

 Vincent, whither he immediately returned. The 

 Buffalo anchored at Holdfast Bay in St Vincent's 

 Gulf on the 28th of December, 1836; and on the 

 same day his excellency the governor landed, es- 

 corted by a party of marines, and accompanied ty 

 the various official personages who had gone out 

 in the Buffalo, together with the ladies of their 

 several families. They were received by the offi- 

 cers and gentlemen who had previously arrived, 

 and fixed their habitation on the plain. His Ex- 

 cellency met the other members of council in the 

 tent of the colonial secretary, where the orders 

 in council, erecting South Australia into a British 

 province and appointing the colonial officers, were 

 read, as was also his Excellency's commission as 

 governor and commander in chief. The custom- 

 ary oaths were administered to the governor, 

 members of council, and other officers present. 

 The commission was afterwards read to the set- 

 tlers, of whom about three hundred were present, 

 and the British flag displayed under a royal salute. 

 The survey of the town of Adelaide having been 

 completed on the 10th of March, 1837, the repre- 

 sentatives of the preliminary sections were put in 

 possession of their allotments on the 23d, and on 

 the '<7th of the same month the remainder of the 

 1000 acre sections of which the capital consists 

 were sold by public auction, realizing an average 

 of 6. Os. 9d. an acre. 



By 1837, the value of town land had risen pro- 

 digiously ; some allotments having been sold for | 

 80 per acre, and for others, better situated, 160 : 

 has been offered and refused. It has been objected 

 to the site of Adelaide, that it is too far removed 

 from the harbour, or Port Adelaide, a distance of 

 six miles. But the objection is obviated by the 

 fact that Adelaide is situated on a small stream, 

 (the Torrens) where water is procurable at least 

 during a portion of the year, and in the midst of a 

 fertile country. The ground between the town 

 and the harbour, also, is a dead level, so that a j 



communication could readily In- established between 

 the places by means of railway or canal Port 

 Lincoln, however, seems destined, by most ac- 

 counts, to supplant Adelaide, (it no distant period, 

 as the commercial capital of the colony. The 

 town of Adelaide, situated on the little river Tor- 

 rens, is laid out on a most extensive scale, but con- 

 sists at present of houses and stores scattered here 

 and there, chiefly of the cottage order, and com- 

 posed of very miscellaneous materials. From the 

 rapid increase of monied emigrants, there is a great 

 demand for artizans, and wages are high, but pro- 

 visions are almost proportionably dear. While 

 the tradesman receives from 10s. to 15s. a day, lie 

 has to pay Is. 4d. for his pound of beef, and 3s. 6d. 

 for his pound of butter. The population of the 

 town in January 1839, was above 3000, but of 

 course, in a place undergoing such speedy evolu- 

 tions, no statistical statements can hold accurate 

 for a single month. The country around, like New 

 South Wales, is peculiarly adapted for the ]MS- 

 turing of sheep. Since 1837, several thousands 

 have been brought from Van Dieman's Land, and 

 large flocks of sheep and cattle have made overland 

 journeys from Sydney to the colony, not, how- 

 ever, without considerable loss of stock from want 

 of water on the way. 



Between South Australia and New South Wales 

 lies a region recently explored by Major Mitchell, 

 and called by him, from its extreme beauty and 

 fertility, Australia Felix. This is indisputably the 

 finest district yet discovered in all Australia. 

 " Unencumbered with too much wood," says Ma- 

 jor Mitchell, " yet possessing enough for all pur- 

 poses, with an exuberant soil under a temperate 

 climate; bounded by the sea-coast and mighty 

 rivers, and watered abundantly by streams from 

 lofty mountains ; this highly interesting region lay 

 before me, with all its features new and untouched 

 as they fell from the hand of the Creator 1" " Every 

 variety of feature," he continues, " may be seen in 

 those southern parts, from the lofty Alpine region 

 on the east, to the low grassy plains in which it ter- 

 minates on the west. The Murray, perhaps the 

 largest river in all Australia, arises amongst those 

 mountains, and receives in its course various other 

 rivers of considerable magnitude. These flow 

 over considerable plains in directions nearly parallel 

 to the main stream, and thus irrigate and fertilize 

 a great extent of rich country. Falling from 

 mountains of great height, the current of these 

 rivers is perpetual, whereas in other parts of Aus- 

 tralia, the rivers are too often dried up, and sel- 

 dom deserve any other name than chains of ponds. 

 Hills of moderate elevation occupy the central 

 country between the Murray and the sea, being 

 thin or partially wooded, and covered with the 

 richest pasturage. The lower country, both on 

 the northern and southern skirts of these hills, is 

 chiefly open; slightly undulating towards the coast 

 on the south, and, in general, well watered. The 

 grassy plains which extend northward from these 

 thinly wooded hills to the banks of the Murray, 

 are chequered by the channels of many streams fall- 

 ing from them, and by the more permanent and 

 extensive waters of deep lagoons, which are nu- 

 merous on the face of these plains, as if intended, 

 by a bounteous Providence, to correct the defi- 

 ciencies of a climate, otherwise too dry, for an in 

 dustrious and increasing people by preserving in 

 these abundant reservoirs, the surplus waters of 

 the large river ; and, indeed, a finer country for 



