The South Australian Company, also referred to as the South Australia Company, was formed in London on 9 October 1835, after the South Australia (Foundation) Act 1834 had established the new British Province of South Australia, with the South Australian Colonization Commission set up to oversee implementation of the Act.
The South Australian Company was a commercial enterprise, and not officially connected to the British Government or the Colonization Commission, but turned out to be indispensable in allowing emigration to the new colony to begin. The founding board of the company, headed by George Fife Angas, consisted of wealthy British merchants, with the purpose of developing a new settlement in South Australia, building a new colony by meeting an essential financial obligations of the South Australia Act 1834. It bought up unsold land to the level required by the Act for emigration to be allowed to begin.
During the first years of settlement, the company built a great deal of infrastructure and contributed to the creation of industries such as fishing and mining, and it continued to play an important part in the business affairs of the colony (and later state) of South Australia for over a hundred years. It ended business in its own right on 17 March 1949, when it was liquidated by Elders Trustee & Executor Company Ltd. Many streets in Adelaide were named after men associated with the company.
Background The South Australian Association (1833–1834) had lobbied the British Government for years to set up a new colony in southern Australia. The members of the Association were men of varied backgrounds, from philanthropists to merchants, including Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Robert Gouger, Robert Torrens Sr and George Fife Angas. The association underwent numerous negotiations and submitted and resubmitted many plans, until the British Parliament finally gave approval and passed the South Australia Act 1834 on 15 August 1834. The association's original plan was for the colony to be more or less independent, but the government thought otherwise; a governor would represent the Crown (British Government), and would share administration of the new colony with the London-based South Australian Colonization Commission, which would be represented in the colony by a resident commissioner, surveyor-general, and various other officers. The new Act also required that a certain amount of land had to be sold in the colony before anybody was allowed to emigrate.
History of the company Foundation George Fife Angas, after resigning from the association, offered to set up a company to buy up the remaining unsold land, which was agreed by the Colonisation Commissioners, so long as this new company, the South Australian Company, did not attempt to set up monopolies in the colony.
The founding Board of Directors of the South Australian Company, established on 9 October 1835, were Angas as chairman; Raikes Currie; Charles Hindley MP; James Hyde; Henry Kingscote; John Pirie, Alderman; Christopher Rawson; John Rundle MP; Thomas Smith; James Ruddell Todd; and Henry Waymouth; with Edmund John Wheeler (Manager); Samuel Stephens, (Colonial Manager); and Edward Hill (Secretary pro tem).
The original purpose of the company was to help prospective colonists meet the obligations set out in the South Australia Act 1834. The United Kingdom did not want the "province" to be a financial burden, like other colonies, and imposed certain conditions through the Act. One of these conditions was the sale of real property (land) to the value of £35,000. Each director was required to buy at least £2,500 in shares in the company. The biggest sales in land carried out by the company were done in the names of Angas, who purchased 102 lots of land of on behalf of the company, which included prime real estate in both town and country, totalling , and with the right to rent an additional of pasturage (worth £40,000), and the Currie family, who purchased £9,000. Research published in 2018 and 2019 concluded that these sales and the creation of company, which secured the establishment of South Australia, link the colony's creation with slavery in the British West Indies.
It was this purchase of land that enabled emigration to commence. It was purely a commercial venture, but without it, the colonisation plan would not have come to fruition.
First Fleet of South Australia (1836)
After a historic meeting at Exeter Hall on 30 June 1834, where the principles, objects, plan and prospects of the new Colony of South Australia were explained to the public, hundreds of enquiries from prospective emigrants arrived at the South Australian Association's headquarters in London.
In January 1836 four ships sailed from England on behalf of the company, ahead of the Colonisation Commission's planned expedition. They developed a settlement at Kingscote on Kangaroo Island, in July 1836, but when farming proved unviable, both the settlement and the company's operations were moved to the mainland. The company provided basic infrastructure for the new colony and sold or leased land to immigrants who came to settle.
Over the course of six months, nine ships, which may be termed the First Fleet of South Australia, arrived in the new colony:
Date Ship Size Purpose Passengers 27 July Duke of York (190 tons) S.A. Company 38 passengers 30 July (206 tons) S.A. Company 29 16 August (105 tons) S.A. Company 28 21 August (162 tons) Commissioners 24 11 September (239 tons) Commissioners 84 5 October (181 tons) S.A. Company 22 2 November (316 tons) Various 76 20 November Tam O'Shanter (360 tons) O. Gilles 74 23 December (850 tons) Commissioners 171
Post-settlement During the first years of settlement, the company undertook the construction of a great deal of infrastructure: roads, bridges, mills, wharfs and warehouses. It contributed to the creation of the whaling, fishing and shipbuilding industries and encouraged mineral exploration. The company, for instance, owned four whaling vessels.
There was, however, a financial slump, or Depression, in the 1840s, and company dividends were unable to be paid out until 1848, after copper was discovered at Burra.
The company continued to be an important part of the business affairs of Adelaide and the colony (later state) for over a hundred years.
From 1872, the South Australian Company occupied offices on North Terrace on the corner of Gawler Place. The new building, "Gawler Chambers", was completed in 1914.
It was wound up on 17 March 1949, with the management of its remaining business transferred to Elders Trustee & Executor Company Ltd.
Lists of people Colonial Managers The colonial managers of the South Australian Company were:
Manager From To Notes 1836 1837 1837 1841 1841 1861 1861 1894 William John Brind SA Memory'The South Australian Company' The Adelaide Observer 7 July 1894, p.14 col. E.Resignation of Mr. W.J. Brind and appointment of Mr. H.Y. Sparks as Manager; biographical sketch of Henry Yorke Sparks. 1894 1900 Death of Mr. H. Y. Sparks South Australian Register 22 October 1900 p.4Death of H. Y. Sparks The Advertiser 22 October 1900 p.5 – Includes biography 1901 1929 Personal The Advertiser 6 December 1913 p.19 (Henry Percival Moore)Personal The Advertiser 11 January 1901 p.5 – Includes brief biography of Henry Percival Moore 1930 1936 New Manager – South Australian Company The Mail 28 December 1929 p.3 – Includes brief biography of Arthur L. A. MullerObituary – Mr Arthur L. A. Muller The Advertiser 10 March 1936 p.21 (none) 1936 1949
Officers of the company Most of the major streets in the Adelaide city centre were named after the founding directors of the company
Chairmen 1836–1848 George Fife Angas (1789–1879) (Angas Street) 1848–18?? James Ruddell Todd 1886–1888 Sir John RoseThe Globe - 03 June 1886 p.5Leeds Mercury - Friday 08 June 1888 p.7 1889–1897 Charles Gay RobertsThe Globe - 06 June 1889 p.5Adelaide Observer - 17 July 1897 p.39 1898–1898 Godfrey WebbDundee Courier - Thursday 09 June 1898 p.2 1899–1923 Henry Joslinhttp://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/brg/42/122/BRG42_122_1.htm Joslin, Henry, 1839-1927
Directors 1836–18?? Raikes Currie (Currie Street) 1836–18?? Charles Hindley (Hindley Street) 1836–18?? James Hyde 1836–18?? Henry Kingscote 1836–18?? John Pirie (Pirie Street) 1836–18?? Christopher Rawson 1836–18?? John Rundle (Rundle Street) 1836–18?? Thomas Smith 1836–18?? James Ruddell Todd 1836–1848 Henry Waymouth (Waymouth Street; died 23 January 1848) 1880–1911 Major General Sir Stanley De A.C. Clarke, G.C.V.O., C.M.G.http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_1.htm Clarke, Stanley, Sir, d.1911 1889–1919 Sir John H. Kennaway, Bart. C.B., M.P.http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_2.htm & http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/brg/42/122/BRG42_122_3.htm Kennaway, John H., Sir, d.1919 1891–1922 Andrew Johnstonhttp://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_3.htm Johnston, Andrew, d.1922 1895–1931 John Henry Granthttp://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_4.htm Grant, John Henry 1899–1931 Sir R.H. Hermon Hodge (later Lord Wyfold)http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_5.htm Hodge, R.H. Hermon, Sir Joseph Fisher Robert Barr Smith Tom Elder Barr Smithhttp://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_13.htm & http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/36500/B36432.htm Barr Smith, Thomas Elder, 1863-1941
Company Secretaries 1878–1911 James Hutchisonhttp://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/mpcimg/07500/B7334_6.htm Hutchison, James 1911–1930+ Henry Brandreth Gibbs F.C.I.S.
Attorneys in South Australia William Bartley 1850–1906 Sir Samuel Davenport, K.C.M.G. 1876–1923 John Warren Bakewell
Local Board of Advice, Adelaide 1841–1885 William Bartley 1841–18?? Edward Stephens 1856–1870 William Bakewell, M.P., Crown Solicitor 1876–1923 John Warren Bakewell 1886-1930+ Joseph Fisher 1894–1932 Sir John Lancelot Stirling K.C.M.G., M.L.C.
Accountants Edward Stephens Edward Robert Simpson (died 11 July 1900)
Others associated with the company Most of the major streets in the Adelaide city centre were named after the founding directors of the company. Naming of the settlements streets was completed on 23 May 1837 and gazetted on 3 June by the Street Naming Committee (Adelaide).