Beginnings...

Well, here it is. My first history post. I figured it was best to start at the beginning, and South Australia’s colonial history begins at a boarding school in Liverpool(!)

Edward Gibbon Wakefield (and dogs), 1840. Photo from SLSA

Anyone who has spent a long weekend holiday in South Australia will know of Port Wakefield Road, and maybe even the town Port Wakefield. There’s also Wakefield Street in the city. So, as well as being the surname of the Sweet Valley twins Jessica and Elizabeth, what’s so special about Wakefield? These places are named in honour of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a convicted criminal who never set foot in Australia. South Australia is so proud of its ‘no convicts here’ history, so why honour a criminal? Well, the South Australian colony was based on the Wakefieldian theory of systematic colonisation. If you’re still with me, good! It gets better from here, I swear.

In March 1827, Edward Gibbon Wakefield (then aged 31) abducted 15-year-old heiress Ellen (sometimes Ethel) Turner from her boarding school in Liverpool. After telling her that her father was ill, and then that he was a wanted fugitive, Ellen agreed to go with Wakefield to Carlisle, about 10 miles south of the Scottish border. There, she was told by Wakefield’s brother William that her father approved of a marriage between her and Edward. Edward Wakefield and Ellen Turner were married at Gretna Green, just beyond the Scottish border. At the time, the age of consent for girl was twelve, so Ellen was of age. However, the marriage was contested by her family (who soon learned of her abduction and traced the newlyweds to Calais) and Ellen returned to England with her uncle. Edward and his brother, after a lengthy trial, were sentenced to three years’ prison and Ellen and Edward’s marriage was annulled on 15 May 1827.

During his three years at Newgate Prison, Edward Wakefield devised his theory of systematic colonisation. In order to create a free settlement (i.e. no convict labour), land needed to be sold at a good price and the income from the land sales used to support migrants (labourers and their families). Working people who moved to South Australia couldn’t be able to afford land right away, as the colony needed people to work the land (and save their money to one day own a piece of it) who weren’t convicts. Still with me?

Anyway, by 1836, Colonel Light and a group of religious dissenters had decided to make South Australia their home. The people who bought the land (and after whom a lot of the streets in Adelaide are named) were wealthy and middle-class and had climbed as high as they could on the social ladder in England and were able to make a name for themselves in the new colony. As you might know, South Australia faced great hardship in its early years, partly because there weren’t enough working people to sustain the population (no working people means no crops and that means no food and food is sort of vital for survival). But, luckily for South Australia, the Germans arrived and brought the means of growing food and making wine with them (yay!).

So, there you have it. A very basic history of the beginnings of South Australia. Thanks for reading :)

References:

Crisp, Hudson. ‘Planned in Prison, South Australia’s Foundation: Romance of Edward Gibbon Wakefield’, The Mail, 16 July 1927, p. 1 (accessed digitally via trove.nla.gov.au).

Pretty, Graeme L., 'Wakefield, Edward Gibbon (1796–1862)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wakefield-edward-gibbon-2763/text3921

http://boundforsouthaustralia.net.au/journey-content/edward-gibbon-wakefield.html