Precis 23 24

Early Days on Eyre Peninsula 23, 24

What Col. Light Thought of Port Lincoln

"DECIDEDLY NO HARBOUR FOR MERCHANT SHIPS"

By J. D. Somerville

It is fortunate that our early settlers were fond of keeping diaries and journals, and recording everyday events. We are particularly indebted to Colonel William Light for preserving the record of his movements from the time of sighting South Australian shores onward. Light's journal was published in book form in the very early days, and in the year 1911, the Royal Geographical Society of Australia (South Australian branch) re-printed it. The following account is taken from the journal.

Col. Light in the Rapid, first sighted South Australian land on August 17, 1836,... His paramount duty now was to select the site for the future settlement and the site for the first town or capital. … east of the Murray mouth,...towards Port Elliot… Antechamber Bay…Nepean Bay which to his practical eye, did not present any special features for the settlement…. eastern shore of St. Vincent Gulf,... Rapid Bay.

On October 29, Capt. Lipson was instructed to proceed to Port Lincoln in the Cygnet (Capt. Rolls) and there await the arrival of the Governor. On November 2, Light decided to divide his survey forces, one party around Rapid Bay and the other on the Adelaide plains. These two surveys and examinations would occupy the time "during my absence at Port Lincoln or elsewhere" wrote Light.

VISIT TO PORT LINCOLN

… Light returned to Holdfast Bay, in the Africaine. … to the Colonisation Commissioners,... "If I had time to examine the other side of this gulf, Port Lincoln, and Gulf Spencer, perhaps some better place might have been found for the stores." … [reports that a suitable harbour near Holdfast Bay had been found].

At that time there was no doubt in Light's mind that examination further afield would be useless and a waste of time. But so much had been heard about Port Lincoln, that he felt it incumbent on him to visit. He again visited Rapid Bay and Nepean Bay, and on December 2, 1836, he left Kangaroo Island at 5 p.m., for Port Lincoln, passing the Althorpe Islands at 11 p.m. and hove to at midnight. At 4 a.m. the following morning the voyage was resumed, passing the Wedge at eight o'clock. At noon he was off Thistle, by 5 p.m. the entrance to Port Lincoln was "apparent." With calms, ebb and flood tides, very light and variable winds all night, after many shifts of winds, sudden gusts and a great deal of trouble, it was not until 10 a.m. on December 4 that the Rapid came to anchor under Grantham Island.

"BEST PLACE FOR CAPITAL" - Capt. Lipson.

The Cygnet was anchored in the bight of the harbor, and within an hour Capt. Lipson came on board Light records Lipson's views in the journal as "he spoke most highly of this harbour and the land, and thought there could be no doubt of it being the best situation for the capital." Port Lincoln was not viewed favorably by some of the early English. First Flinders made his examination after the tragic loss of a boat's crew at Memory Cove, and now we have Light recording his experience : "It has been blowing hard occasionally since the 26th November, and now a perfect gale with thick raining weather. I am decidedly of opinion that Port Lincoln is no harbour for merchant ships ; looking at it as a port for men of war, well manned, plenty of boats etc., it is very well ; it is capacious, and there is excellent holding ground, but the strong gusts of wind shifting all round the compass renders the entrance not altogether so safe as the plan of it on paper would indicate. When Captain Lipson came here in the Cygnet, they had fine light easterly breezes all the way ; we, however, found that coming into this harbour was more troublesome than anything we have met since our arrival in South Australia." …

Read the full article at https://sites.google.com/view/early-days-of-eyre-peninsula/what-col-light-thought-of-port-lincoln

24. Port Lincoln Decided Against as Capital

Story of William Light's inspection

" December 5 (1836).— ….”... 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,

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 well 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, December 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 : [detailed diary entry then follows]...

… His hopeless search for water in Spalding Cove… Light was not made aware of the good land in Boston Bay and to the northward. …

Before leaving Port Lincoln, Light left a letter with Lipson for Governor Hindmarsh [explaining why he had dismissed Port Lincoln and chosen the eastern shore of Gulf St. Vincent] …[then an extract from Hindmarsh's letter to Angas January 5, 1837]... .

[more from Light’s diary on his return trip to Holdfast Bay] “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." … “II should never find anything more eligible than the neighbourhood of Holdfast Bay." The die was definitely cast so far as Port Lincoln was concerned.

… The idea of forming a settlement [at Encounter Bay] with such a dangerous port as hopeless.

…: " 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 remainder of this (lengthy) article explores the settlers’ opposition expressed to Light as to his choice of what is now Port Adelaide, and settlement on the Adelaide plains. Hindmarsh still preferred Port Lincoln. .]

[At the end of January 1837, there was a vote of confidence for Light:]

"That this meeting 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."

Read the full article at https://sites.google.com/.../port-lincoln-decided-against...

The next installment is entitled “Opinion Divided Over Best Site for Capital” and deals with Capt. Mitchell's declaration and T. Horton James's views of Port Lincoln