In concluding the record of some of the occurrences which took place during the short time Colonel Gawler administered the Government of South Australia there are one or two incidents which, although trifles, afford pictures of the early state of things. He found only a small organisation as to police.

The first Governor's marine guard, such as it was, had left with Captain Hindmarsh, and there was no military force. Captain Hindmarsh had appointed Mr. Inman as Superintendent of Police, who had a small number of green policemen under him.

Shortly after the arrival of Governor Gawler he appointed Major O'Halloran Commissioner of Police and Police Magistrate, with an increased number of men. He also called for volunteers to form a semi-military force. In answer to this appeal gentlemen willing to serve as officers abounded, but rank and file men were scarce, and only at first a few came forward to be enrolled. An early muster was ordered, and uniforms were announced to be obtained at the Government Store.

I had allowed a man in my employment to enrol ; he was driver of the mail to Glenelg or Port Adelaide (I was the first mail contractor), and I had arranged to put a substitute on the box when his services were required as a volunteer. As I was anxious to see how thing went on at the muster in front of Government House I started in that direction, and as I approached I saw F. G., my driver, on his way, in some sort of a military uniform. On nearing me he halted with a military salute (he had served in a yeomanry regiment at home).

I said to him, " Well, G., what an extraordinary figure you cut." " I am aware of it, sir," was the reply, " but it is not my fault; we were ordered to apply for and to appear in slop uniform. I turned over a lot of the clothing, and have taken the nearest I could find to fit me. This shell-jacket and pants will not meet, as you see, and I have adopted a large red comforter to fill up the gap." Of course I had a hearty laugh, but could not risk the chance of indulging in indecorous manners before His Excellency, and so turned back.

I received a report of the miserable failure of the first attempt to muster a force, at which were present nine officers, as I was informed, and six rank and file. I must add that after some little time a respectable regiment was organised. Though rather out of place, I must mention a surprise which Mrs. Gawler got on one of her first visits to the residences of colonists (not intended for the upper classes), in distributing tracts to the inhabitants of tents and shanties. I have mentioned the small miserable hut where our first Postmaster carried on his duties.

At the door of this Mrs. Gawler knocked, and on the door being opened she was greatly surprised when the name of the Posmaster-General was given, in answer to her question as to the name of the occupant. " I was not aware that Government officials occupied such strange places," said the lady, and feeling she could not leave a tract with so high an official, she walked on, and soon found herself in Emigration-square, to which she had started to make a special visit, as it was then filled with freshly-arrived emigrants. The good lady here found an ample field for her pious works. This necessary establishment has vanished long ago, and has not been replaced. It was situated on the flat beyond the north-west corner of the city, and was built of weatherboards, which answered a temporary purpose. These huts were pulled down after the stagnation and stoppage of emigration from England, and from the necessity to get rid of a nuisance.

During the time Colonel Gawler administered the Government of South Australia many special surveys were taken up, which were found useful as providing funds at that time, but which exercised a mal-influence in placing so much of the best and well-watered land in the hands of absentees. The rage for special surveys continued until the crisis put a stop to all speculation for a time.

Amongst others, two special surveys were applied for on Yorke's Peninsula, which were afterwards abandoned (worse luck for the speculators), as one of them would have embraced Kadina and Wallaroo, and the other the mineral land fronting Spencer's Gulf, including harbors — one in each gulf. It is a well-established fact that the richest mines in this colony have from time to time been discovered by parties engaged in pastoral pursuits, and not by the purchasers of land to any extent, and so the benefits of such discoveries must be credited to the squatting interest.

I must here mention that the late Mr. Osmond Gilles was one of the subscribers to the Association organised to take up the special surveys on Yorke's Peninsula, and also acted for some of his friends in England, and that he read to me one of his enthusiastic letters to them, in which he predicted that there would be included in the properties a port on each side of the Peninsula, with a railroad connecting them (which latter work is just now about to be-accomplished). I also remember his angry remarks when the speculations were given up.

Some year or two later I heard another remarkable prediction as to the future of Yorke's Peninsula from that eminent mineralogist and geologist, the late Mr. Menge. We were resting on one of the Glen Osmond spurs when he pointed across the Gulf and said, ''Before many years are over rich copper mines will be worked there and ships will be in harbors on both sides of the Peninsula to convey the ores away." To which I replied, "How do you know, you have not visited that part, I believe?" " No, I have not, but I pronounce the Flinders Range to be a rich copper-bearing vein of country from the part of it I have examined in the north; that range in past ages extended to the Southern end of Yorke's Peninsula, and a mighty sea-wash, long continued, has carried away the same and reduced it to the present level, and copper will be found near the surface.''

At the time this prediction was made we were still suffering under our first crisis. By the working of mines in fulfilment of his predictions, but not till some years after, and by the untiring energy of a small population engaged in other pursuits the colony has been raised from that crushing depression, which ought never to have been allowed to occur, to its present proud position, which depression was occasioned by the dishonor of an amount of Government drafts, now in amount a flea-bite. As exemplified in that we are now receiving accommodation on the most favorable terms current for three millions sterling, in addition to the same amount previously borrowed, to develop those great resources which Colonel Gawler rightly perceived the country to promise ; and yet he was allowed to pass his latter days and die a disappointed man, as many great and good men, benefactors to their fellow- creatures, have done before him.

I feel I shall be doing right before I conclude the brief history of his time as our second Governor, to republish the following quotations from the Australian Mail of the 15th of June, 1869:—

"George Gawler, born in 1798, was destined for the military service. He joined at an early age the 52nd Light Infantry Regiment, in November 1811, and served to the end of the Peninsula War. He was present at the storming of Badajoz, where he led the ladder party of the 52nd Stormers, and received a wound below his right knee, and at St. Munos a wound in the neck. He was present at the battles of Vera, Vittoria, Nivelle, Orthes, and Toulouse, besides various minor affairs. At Waterloo he commanded the right company of his regiment. He received the war medal, with seven clasps, as a reward for his services. After the restoration of peace he continued with the regiment, performing his duties with that zeal and intelligence which so largely distinguished the officers of the 52nd, and assisted in making the regiment one of the best in the service. His military career soon closed, but he continued on half-pay until 1850, when he sold his commission with no ordinary feelings of pain."

This was after his bitter experiences following his hasty removal from his government, and the denial of his claims on the Queen and the British Government.

" As a civil officer his career commenced under the auspices of his illustrious Commander-in-Chief the Duke of Wellington, who interested himself in his advancement, urging that ' Gawler could not act other than wisely, for he never did a foolish thing in his career.' His merits were recognised in 1838 by the appointment of Governor of South Australia, when the Imperial authorities and the ruling classes did not hold in favor the principle on which the colony was founded, not recognising it to be a means to provide homes for the toil-worn sons of England, of those un-soiled by crime, and as establishing another market for its exports."

On entering his important, and to him novel duties, he found serious obstacles to be overcome, of sufficient weight to deter an ordinary man, but which Colonel Gawler grappled with firm determination. It should always be looked upon as a turning point in the history of South Australia in acknowledging the influence he had upon its early struggles. What, then, did he accomplish ? He had no light task to bring order out of the chaotic materials of the early expeditions. There was little or no authority amongst those who attempted a settlement between 1836 and 1838. How could there be under a divided authority ? The settlers, disappointed as they were at the delay they experienced in getting their land, were yet without protecting force, either police or military. The administrative officers were for months disagreeing about their duties and responsibilities, and not only was the Government destitute of public offices and buildings, but the small population at the time of the Governor's arrival may be described as nomadic, rather than as having houses and homes such as could be acceptable to English settlers.

Colonel Gawler, by his own confession, has admitted that he entered on his Government hastily, and without being able to make minute calculations. He accepted his instructions under a strong conviction that the emergency clause in them would always protect him, and that expenses of a special or extraordinary nature might be incurred without previous authority, when justifiable on the ground that delay would be productive of serious injury to the public service.

" It is worthwhile, now that the colony is an established success, to enquire in what state would it have been if these emergency powers had not been liberally given, and extensively acted upon." The home authorities did not approve of his actions in the extent to which he relied upon such emergency clauses, although he had in his despatches given full notices of his actions, and the grounds by which he had been influenced. It does not appear that they believed his reports of the value of the country and its prospective importance, although such reports were based on his own personal toilsome excursions, in exploring an extent of country not even yet fully occupied, after a lapse of time of much over a quarter of a century since they were made.

" Colonel Gawler left the province on the 22nd June, 1841. He was presented on his departure with unanimous addresses and a purse containing £500, contributed by the colonists out of their diminished means, which sum he left to be invested in land on his account, as a connecting link between himself and the colony. Following immediately after his recall, a Committee of the House of Commons investigated the consequences of his large but not lavish expenditure. The result was a loan from the Consolidated Fund of £155,000 towards the temporary relief of the colony (long since repaid). Mr. G. Wakefield had remarked, ' I cannot imagine the possibility of founding a colony without obtaining money for its first expenses from some source other than itself. At first it has no existence at all and one might as well propose to manufacture cotton goods without the outlay for the building, machinery, and the raw materials, &c. The consequences, not only of the temporary relief granted by the British Government, but also from the carrying out the early policy of Colonel Gawler, have proved all that could have been desired. The land has yielded its increase, not only in rich and abundant crops, but the mines also in silver-lead and copper ores."

And thus our second Governor's predictions were soon largely accomplished, although too many of the pioneers, by the stagnation created by the authorities repudiating the actions of their own representative, were brought to ruin, and had to work with insufficient means, and to apply themselves to hard and unaccustomed labor, newer arrivals, in too many instances on most advantageous terms for themselves, gaining the advantages of their first efforts in founding the new colony.

It is to be recorded with regret and shame, that even after the colony was proved to be a success, and that Colonel Gawler had only been a little too fast in his actions, he was left by an ungrateful government to end his days as a grievously disappointed public servant, without material reward, or even that of empty honors. It was never attributed to him that in his actions he in the slightest degree sought his own personal advantage.

" Colonel Gawler, after appeals to Parliament and to successive Governments in vain, wearied and disgusted with routine and red tape, exercised the right of petition to Her Majesty, but received no other response than a bare acknowledgment through the Secretary of State. When he afterwards applied for some honorary title in reward for his long and faithful services he was absolutely refused, and the grand old soldier had but little to wrap himself in but his martial cloak and a conscience void of offence. Sincerity, earnestness, and devotion marked his career. His last appearance in public in London was at the dinner to Sir James Fergusson previous to his proceeding to occupy the Governorship of South Australia. He spoke more than once with a vigor which charmed those present, and with an enthusiasm fresh and youthful, of the substantial progress since his time [this would be in 1868, or 27 years after his recall.] At this dinner, in honor to the newly-appointed Governor, Colonel Gawler quoted the following lines : —

' What constitutes a State ?
Not high raised battlements or labored mound,
Thick wall or mounted gate,
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ;
Not bays and broad-armed ports.
Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride,
Not starred and spangled Courts,
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfumes to pride.
No! men, high-minded men,
Who know their rights, and knowing dare maintain,
Prevent the low-aimed blow
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain
— These constitute a State.
And sovereign Law, that State's collected will,
O'er thrones and globes elate,
Sits Empress — crowning good, repressing ill.' "

A standard not less high was ever present to his mind, and although his true worth was not recognised largely and publicly, it is through such sons England has reared her Empire, and that her influence the wide-world over is regarded as just, wise, and beneficent."

At the time he was called on to surrender the reins of Government to his successor, Captain Grey, the great outbreak of the natives on the Murray had occurred, as had the return of the first volunteer party which went out to endeavor to recapture the sheep, as related in No. 22, defeated by numbers of congregated natives. The first task, therefore, Captain Grey had to perform was to dispatch the larger party which was being organised at the time he landed, and soon after inflicted heavy punishment on the aborigines, when a large number were necessarily shot, showing that the prompt measures early taken, as Colonel Gawler had with the Milemurra tribes, was a merciful policy ; but for the carrying out of which he was so unmercifully treated and denied common justice on his arrival in England.

I think it will not be out of place here to quote from Forster's " History of South Australia" a speech which Colonel Gawler addressed to a sorrowing audience of colonists in Adelaide the day before he departed from the colony. He said: —

" Gentlemen, it gives me very deep regret, very great pain, to leave the colony with so many accounts which have arisen under my administration unsettled ; but I have the fullest confidence that not one account will remain unpaid, because such accounts have been drawn upon my authorities. It has been difficult to explain to you such authorities, which are scattered through the whole of my correspondence during that period. Parties in England have judged of the effect which ought to have been given to these instructions by the standard of what they supposed the colony to be; but I have judged of those instructions from what I have known the colony to be, and from what I knew of its requirements; and from their imperfect knowledge of the colony in England, as opposed to my knowledge of it, these unfortunate difficulties have arisen."

Forster, in his History of South Australia, says —

''The romance of South Australia, when the colonists lived in tents, and the representative of the sovereign received deputations under spreading gum trees, is yet to be written. It will afford a chapter of real events stranger than fiction."

This the writer of these chapters is attempting to perform, and it has been and will be his aim to give facts only, and in addition to a small part of his own " experiences" to gather reliable matter from old colonists who were with him actively engaged in conquering the wilderness, and have lived the best part of their lives through hardships and difficulties to witness and enjoy the successful results of our early struggles.

"On May the 7th, 1869. at Southsea," says the Australian Mail, " Colonel Gawler died, and his most enduring monument will be the colony of South Australia, which he lived to witness a permanent success."

I am happy to be able to add that at this time we have received as a present from Colonel Palmer an excellent oil painting of this good and gallant man, to be placed in our splendid Town Hall. (To be continued.)