Colonial View, Colonel William Light, A View of the County and the temporary erections near the site of the proposed Town of Adelaide in South Australia, 1837, Giclee, survey

Archival Limited Edition Giclee of an original hand colored aquatint by Robert Havell after a water-colour by Colonel William Light (Surveyor-General) for the Publishing House, Smith Elder & Co., London, 1838 (part of a proposed series). Colonel William Light was an accomplished artist and no doubt hoped to have the record of establishing this first planned & Freely settled British colony documented through his artwork.

Archival Edition Giclee Print Limited to 200 prints. Issued with numbered certificate.

Size of Image = 53 x 36 cm  (12 1/6 x 14 1/3 inch)

The scene shows a clearing in woodlands on the Adelaide Plains. It is suspected this was the location known as Emigration Square, near present day Victoria Square, as we see settlers tents, camp-fires, bullock drays and one of the first farmhouses. It is one of the earliest records of Adelaide owing its existence to William Light's attempt to support himself in his three years until  his death in 1839. The original painting was entitled "The Commencement of Colonisation in South Australia"* and had been sent back to London by his agent, F.W.Collard of Briggs, Thurburn & Co. The Scene was to be aquatint-ed by Robert Havell and published by Elder Smith & Co, becoming available in February 1838.  Meanwhile in Adelaide, William Light's modest cottage, next to the Lands & Survey Office, burnt to the ground destroying the irreplaceable paintings within. In the same year he died of Tuberculosis, in 1839.(The West End Brewery, closed in 2020, was built on William Light & Maria Gandy's Cottage )

Surveyor General Colonel William Light's Vision

His dream was to recognized as "The Founder of a City" as his father before him, trader and adventurer, Captain Francis Light. Captain Francis Light had negotiated with the Sultan of Kedah, for the Island Penang on the Malaysian Peninsula, on behalf of the East India Company. Colonel William Light's mother is believed to have been one of the Sultan of Kedah's daughters. William Light was therefore of  Malaysian descent, a fact that he often struggled with in his self portraits as seen in the Art Gallery of South Australia. He had much opposition from the Commissioners, the Governor of the Colony John Hindmarsh, criticism from London and struggled with untrained staff to survey the City of Adelaide on the flood plain where it stands today. The result of this survey was the celebrated "Plan of Adelaide" sent back to London in 1837 and the District Map of Adelaide in 1839.

With all the colonial resistance to his survey protocols he offered, "I Never expect the current generation to approve of it: but posterity will do me justice". Australia's current generation is enduring droughts and water shortages due to population growth. On the Adelaide Plains our city and suburbs are situated on a flood plain, something he fought for as Surveyor General of this prototype colony of free settlers. For this we owe Colonel William Light a huge debt of thanks and honor his resourceful vision given we are located downstream of the River Murray. Colonial colonies upstream (New South Wales & Victoria) introduced a series of dams and irrigation to encourage agricultural pursuits.The result has been lighter fresh water flows for South Australian farmers and valuable ecosystems. The flood plain water storage has been our savior.

* 9 September, 2019: It was reported the painting that George Havell used to achieve this original aquatint had survived in a camphor chest for 40 years in South Australia. The antique dealer's widow took it for appraisal at Elder Fine Art Auction. If it is the the original by William Light's hand (as it was unsigned), it maybe that it had either been in London, or in transit back to Col. William Light when Light's cottage was destroyed/he had died from Tuberculosis in 1839. The Art Gallery of South Australia questioned its provenance, the result being it was passed in at auction, later sold privately.