Map, Surveyor-General Colonel William,Light Town Plan of Adelaide, South Australia 1837, Raphael Clint, Sydney, Giclee Print

Archival Limited Edition Giclee Print of an original SA Government Printer photo-lithograph circa 1868, after a rare a copper-plate engraving by Raphael Clint in Sydney in 1837 of the Colonel William Light Town Plan of Adelaide survey, South Australia, 1837.

Map of north and south Adelaide giving Town Acre numbers and street names as originally designated. Details include the location of Government House, Mounted Police Barracks on North Terrace and the Botanic Gardens on the western side of the city between two roads to Port Adelaide. South west of the city are two roads to Holdfast Bay and in North Adelaide a storehouse and school can be found. The hospital is in the parklands adjacent to East Terrace.

Size = 44cm x 57cm (17 1/2 in x 22 2/3 in)

Issued with a Limited Edition certificate, including the List of Purchasers off the plan in Britain & on-site auction in the colony.

See William Light's Town Plan Evolution : District Map of Adelaide, 1839 : Adelaide CBD, Fuller c.1910 : Eastern Suburbs of Adelaide c.1913 : Centenary Map of Adelaide, 1936 .

Colonel William Light and his dream to be the “Founder of a City”

Col. Light had served with distinction in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. There was speculation that he had been short-listed to be Governor of South Australia but John Hindmarsh out-maneuvered him, recommending him as Surveyor -General. This suited William as his father, Francis Light, had foundered Penang after securing the island for the influential East India Company on behalf of the British Empire. William not only had a remarkable artist talent but also acumen for town planning. What he lacked in equipment, untrained staff and support of the colony’s Duel Government, he made up for in determination & true grit. Before dying of tuberculosis in 1939 he had resigned. The struggle is reflected in his quote, “I Never expect the current generation to approve of it: but posterity will do me justice”

The Story of Raphael Clint, the Rare 1837 Light Plan of Adelaide

Raphael “Ralph” Clint (1797-1848) was a lithographer, copper engraver, printer and surveyor who came out to the newly established Swan River Colony (WA) from England in 1829. He found work as a Survey Office clerk. Work was cutback so the newly wed Clint set out for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1834. Another colonial government as Survey Office clerk had ended abruptly as his wife was implicated in case involving “illicit trafficking with soldiers”. Time to move on again, this time to Sydney. He set himself up as a printer lasting for 12 years. The colonial excitement of a “Adelaide town plan” was one of his early engravings, after-all this was a prototype freely settled colony in the British Empire. However, for all of his much-needed talent in colonial Sydney he had a challenging demeanor that put him at odds with many. Together with the 1840s recession, he filed for bankruptcy in 1847 relinquishing all of his equipment. As a consequence of these colonial events William Light’s Town Plan of Adelaide by Raphael Clint (1786-1849) has few references to its existence.

South Australian Government Printer Technology Evolution

Fast forward to 1866 Adelaide, the very plan he had engraved in 1837. Photo-lithography was a natural progression to marry to printing processes: lithography on stone had proved itself more versatile than traditional metal engraving, and photography was the latest marvel of technology, hence in the business of image-generation. As a consequence the Walter William Thwaites set about establishing a government photo-lithographic department with the then surveyor-general, George Woodroofe Goyder. It was a matter of learning the this revolutionary printing process, acquiring the equipment from London & Melbourne, and setting it up in Adelaide. The result was this photo-lithograph of a rare Clint 1837 Adelaide Plan printed in circa 1870.

© Sandra J Ker, January 2020