Port Lincoln Decided Against as Capital

" December 5 (1S36).— At eight a.m. we reached in between Boston Island and Cape Donington," wrote Col. William Light in his diary. "At this moment the gusts of wind were so strong we were obliged to in top-gallant sails, lower the top sails on the caps, up courses and down jib. A merchant vessel bound for this port not expecting anything like this after a long passage, may here have her rigging rather slack and not think it necessary to set it up before coming into so fine an harbour; a ship thus situated would have most certainly been dismasted, gone on shore and on a rocky coast. Trading vessels coming here must anchor at least one mile from the shore, and then landing goods is by no means easy. I much doubt the safety of Gulf Spencer altogether, whether the season of the year was better when Flinders and the French navigators were here I cannot say, but from the little I have seen I think if this be the principal port many ships will be lost."

Light set out a comparison of the two gulfs, which briefly was as fol \lows (the comments in ordinary type refer to Spencer Gulf and those in black type to St. Vincent Gulf): —

Gulf Spencer. — Many obstructions in mouth ; islands, reefs and most likely tremendous swell.
Gulf Saint Vincent.— No obstructions, and much more sheltered from westerly winds.
Danger to ships making Thistle Island at dusk and gale coming W., could she make into the gulf. If going ashore on rocks or shoals it would be destruction to all.
With a gale coming on, a ship could enter gulf from either end of Kangaroo Island. If going ashore in the gulf lives and property would be saved.
Port Lincoln is a capacious harbor, but the mouth is surrounded by islands and reefs. A westerly wind would bring a ship to the mouth, but prevent her getting in.
The harbor in Gulf St. Vincent is long and like a river, and we'll sheltered. Bars could be easily dredged to avoid delay in entering the harbor.
Merchant vessels must lie one or two miles off shore to land cargo. In stormy weather would be unable to land cargo. Much time would be lost.
Ships could lay alongside wharves erected in harbor, and until such time as wharves erected harbor has smooth water for unloading in boats.

If the journal was written up in proper sequence these observations must have been made on the afternoon or night of the fifth, before Light had been on shore at Port Lincoln, or had examined the whole of the port.

FATEFUL DATES

In the history of Port Lincoln, De cember 6 and 7 were fateful dates, for on those days Light made his land examinations. It is evident, that before reaching the port his mind was made up, but he had a duty to perform, and his journal for these two days verifies his previously conceived ideas. As his views are so important, the full entry will be given :

"December 6 (1836). — Went on shore with Captain Lipson. Mr. Mor phett and Mr. Pullen ; Captain Lip son had before told me the land here was rich and abundant. We landed at the S.E. end of the port, and walked in a southerly direction for some distance, until we could plainly see the ocean ; but I was much disappointed at finding nothing but hard rocks and sheoak. After looking about for some time, we descended in to the plain at the head of the gulf and here we found some tolerable land, but only in small patches, and some pools of fresh water — high hills surrounding the plain, which might be four miles in circumference, but in which I do not suppose there were 1,000 acres of tolerable land ; at the bight or sand runs out a long way, and on the southern side a bed of flat stone extends into the harbour for nearly half a mile. I was much disappointed altogether with the place; at five p.m. we returned on board. I must decidedly say, it can not be thought of as a first settlement ; some years, hence It may be made a valuable seaport, but that can only be after the colony has increased considerably.

" December 7.— It was my intention to have gone on shore this day and examine the other side of the port, but after looking attentively with a good glass and comparing appearances of the country on both sides, I found them so exactly the same nature that I determined on running for Spalding Cove, and search for fresh water. No settlement of any extent could be formed here for many years ; the hills sloping down to the water's edge and the want of fresh water are im pediments that could not be got over without ruining the first settlers. We got underway (weigh) at nine, and anchored at Spalding Cove. At half-past four p.m. having in two or three reaches gone sufficiently far into Boston Bay to see that nothing there was so good as at the Port (I think Port Adelaide is meant, but some early writers con sider it Proper Bay. — J.D.S.), at 5 p.m. I left the brig to look for fresh water, and as I had heard that a stream ran into the sea, I rowed round for a considerable distance (nearly to Cape Donington) without success. I returned on board at 8 p.m. Heavy looking weather with occasional lightning and strong gales all night."

SEARCH FOR WATER

December 8 was still boisterous and it was not until late in the afternoon that a boat could be got away to make another unsuccessful search for water. On the ninth, Light prepared for a return to Holdfast Bay. It is almost apparent that Light was not in possession of the pamphlet issued by the South Australian Association, otherwise he would have made a closer examination of Boston Bay. His hopeless search for water in Spalding Cove is evidence of that, had he been in possession of Capt. Goold's account, he would have known there was water to be obtained in the N.W. corner of that bay, failing to find the water reported by Hamborg in Spalding Cove.

One wonders what Capt. Lipson was doing during the time between his arrival and that of Light. Probably he had no authority to take the ship's boat and crew on distant explorations, but it is remarkable that Light was not made aware of the good land in Boston Bay and to the northward.

Light was expecting that the Buffalo would have been at Port Lincoln when Lipson arrived there, and would therefore not give him any instructions about making a search of the district.

Before leaving Port Lincoln, Light left a letter with Lipson for Governor Hindmarsh. Unfortunately a copy of this letter cannot be traced, but Hindmarsh, who had arrived in the Buffalo, writing to the Secretary of State under date. January 6, 1837, among other things said in reporting " my arrival all well at Port Lincoln on 24th ulto., where I found the Harbour Master, Capt. Lipson in the Cygnet, hired ship, waiting my arrival with intelligence from Colonel Light, the Surveyor General, that having ascertained that Port Lincoln would not do at all, but that he had found a good harbor (to which Capt. Lipson was to pilot me) and abundance of fertile land on the eastern shore of Gulf St. Vincent. As that was the locality to which our hopes in England had pointed, from its vicinity to Lake Alexandrina I did not hesitate at once to comply with Col. Light's request to go there . . . . . "

GOVERNOR'S LETTER

In a letter dated January 5, 1837, the Governor wrote to Mr. G. F. Angas, in which a few additional details are given. After referring to the receipt of the letter from Light, he wrote, " I immediately proceeded to join him, in doing which I was two nights, and two days in beating out of Spencer's Gulf, which I entered without any fear. I should, however, be sorry to try the same navigation again, until that very dangerous gulf is surveyed. Flinders' survey is good as far as it goes ; but his own tract is the only thing to be depended upon. Gulf St. Vincent, on the contrary, appears to be perfectly clear."

To resume Light's return journey : At 10 a.m. on the 9th, the Rapid got under weigh, and as much trouble was experienced getting out of the Gulf as getting in. The ship drifted so much that she was anchored under Taylor's Island. On the 10th Light was still prevented from getting away, so made for Memory Cove, where an inspection of the coastal area was made. Time would not permit the party climbing the hills, as it was 3 p.m. when they anchored in the cove. Strong breezes and vivid lightning gave Light an anxious night, but the following day (11th) the ship got away and by noon was running for Investigator's Strait.

While the ship was at anchor at Taylor's Island, Light wrote again to the Commissioners : "Got under way (weigh) to return to Gulf Saint Vincent and prosecute my survey there, for I have been considering much this Gulf, and I think it best to give it up entirely for the present, for should there be a good harbour and good soil higher up, yet the dangers that surround the entrance are too many for a new colony, if any other equally good can be found, and the prospects on the eastern side of Gulf Saint Vincent are so promising that I do not like losing more time here."

On his return to Holdfast Bay on December 17, he again wrote to the Commissioners : " The time now lost in much extra labour, and the arrival of many people from England makes me anxious to find some place to locate the land purchasers and others ; and from every answer to my enquiries of the sealers, as well as the practical view of the coast I had to the westward I feel convinced I should never find anything more eligible than the neighbourhood of Holdfast Bay." The die was definitely cast so far as Port Lincoln was concerned.

Encounter Bay came in for another review — on paper — and Light decided there was no navigable channel from the sea into the lake, the large lake behind the sandhills indicating to him that there could not be a deep and wide exit to the sea. Further, the exposed situation of the coast, subject as it was to the swell of several thousand of miles of the Southern Ocean, rendered a settlement on the shore a moral impossibility. Since his first, long-distance inspection. Light had learnt that there was an anchorage at some rocky island for a few vessels, but he dismissed the idea of forming a settlement there with such a dangerous port as hopeless.

Among a bundle of papers left by the late G. F. Angas, and now in the South Australian Archives, there is a clipping from an English newspaper ' Constitutional,' of May 20, 1837, which says : " Port Lincoln has been examined by Colonel Light and the found the land about it of such inferior description and the approaches to the harbour — which is otherwise excellent — so difficult, that he at once abandoned all doubt as to making it the site of the proposed settlement."

The letter, on which this paragraph was based must have been written between December 17 and 29, 1836, the date of Light's return and the date he selected Adelaide, respectively, and would probably be the earliest account published in England that Port Lincoln did not come up to the standard, demanded by the Colonisation Commissioners as desirable for the site of the capital.

SELECTED SITE OPPOSED

The settlers did not calmly accept Light's selection, so it will be as well to trace the operations cf Light a little while. On December 18, 1836, Light made for the new harbor, not yet named, in company with the Tam O'Shanter. It was unfortunate that this boat ran ashore in the harbor, and did not get off again until the 22nd. On December 28, Governor Hindmarsh arrived at Holdfast Bay, having called at Port Lincoln en route and received Light's letter. Light was too busy to go to the bay to meet the new arrival.

On the 29th the search for the best situation continued, and evidently on that day, Light came to a final decision, for on December 30, 1836, the Governor inspected the selected site for the capital and thought it was too far from the harbor. His Excellency and Light walked down the river for two miles and a fresh site was agreed upon, one and a half miles nearer the port.

Light afterwards made a careful inspection of this new site when signs of floods were seen, so he reverted to the original site. By this act seeds of discontent were sown. The breach between the parties widened considerably, and although out of proper sequence it is as well to refer to the third report of the Colonisation Commissioners, dated April 23, 1839, in which they reviewed the position and pointed out that changes had been made in the powers of the local Government. They pointed out that under a chartered company the whole power would have been exercised by the company, but when that plan was abandoned, and South Australia was constituted a British province with dual control, the Governor and council were given the executive and legislative powers and the levying of taxes. To the Colonisation Commissioners in England were given the powers for the disposal of public lands, the supply of emigrants, the raising and dis-posal of loans in the first instance for colonial expenditure. "

The divided authority thus created did not work well in practice. The boundary line between the powers of the local Gov ernment and that of the Commission ers was not distinctly drawn." The partisans of the Governor's party tried to force a departure from the regulations and instructions by which the Commissioners gave the selection of the site of the capital to the Surveyor-General.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN LIGHT

Toward the end of January, 1837, a letter was circulated to the holders of the 437 preliminary land orders, suggesting that the whole coast line should be surveyed to ascertain whether the most eligible site had been selected. To test the feelings of the holders of these orders, a public meeting — on the requisition of eight residents— was held on February 10, 1837. George Stevenson was voted to the chair. Of the many resolutions proposed at that meeting, it is necessary to refer to only two, and then it was an amendment of one and not the motion itself that was carried. The amendment said "That this meet ing considers that in the site selected by the Surveyor-General for the first town, he has secured, in a most satisfactory manner, those advantages which the commissioners and the first purchasers in England contemplated as essentials." The amendment then contained a list of the advantages obtained. A division for the amendment showed 218 against 137.

Although the voting in favor was only about two thirds of those present or represented by proxies, it is satisfactory to read that another resolution : — " That this meeting considers that the Surveyor-General, Wm. Light Esq., has most ably and judiciously discharged the responsible duty assigned to him by the Commissioners and is fully entitled to their confidence in every respect," was carried unanimously.