Myth over Benjamin Mendes da Costa's bequest to St Peter's College in Adelaide sets off Catholic conspiracy
The Da Costa building and arcade, on the corner of Grenfell Street and Gawler Place, are on the site of Benjamin Mendes da Costa's 1840s home in Adelaide city.
An Adelaide myth, verging on conspiracy, was that Anglican Church had deprived the Roman Catholic Church of the large bequest from 19th Century businessman and philanthropist Benjamin Mendes de Costa.
The myth was rooted in da Costa’s Portuguese name, suggesting he was Catholic. But da Costa had Jewish lineage and, with his sister Louisa, was bought up in the Church of England as children of their father’s second marriage. (The first-marriage children were brought up Jewish.)
Benjamin and sister Louisa (both never married) arrived in South Australia on 1840. He set up as a merchant in Hindley Street, Adelaide city, and in 1843 moved to Grenfell Street. He built up property across Adelaide and South Australia but most significantly 11 blocks in eight places on Hindley, Rundle, Grenfell, Currie, Gilbert and Pulteney streets, as well as Hindmarsh Square and South Terrace.
The da Costas only stayed in South Australia for seven years but when Benjamin died in 1869 he left land for the site of St Peter’s Cathedral and his £20,000 Adelaide property estate to the Collegiate School of St Peter. The dispute over wording of his will was whether he had left money to which bishop of Adelaide (the Anglican Augustus Short, whom he knew or the Catholic bishop). That a legal case was won by the Anglicans on this point was a myth. St Peter’s College didn’t get its bequest until the last of da Costa’s relatives (also heirs) died in 1910.
In Adelaide, da Costa had become friends with the second Anglican colonial chaplain, the Rev. James Farrell, who ministered at Trinity Church on North Terrace, Adelaide city, where da Costa worshipped. The only personal legacy in da Costa's will was a bequest to Farrell “as a mark of esteem”. Da Costa had also become friendly with Anglican bishop Augustus Short, also closely connected with founding the Collegiate School of St Peter, started in 1847 at Trinity Church.
Da Costa left real estate in South Australia to the council of the Collegiate School of St Peter, subject to the life interests of 10 relatives, one being his sister Louisa who died in 1898. The last surviving relation and last life tenant of the properties died in 1910 and in 1912 the property was vested in the school.
Rent from the lease of South Australian properties made up the bulk of the income from the Da Costa Estate.
When the last life tenant died in 1910, the estate’s properties’ unimproved value was about £80,000. and between 1910 and 1915 income from the estate provided between one and two thirds of the college’s annual revenue. The college council’s aim was that masters’ salaries would be paid out of the income.
The Da Costa Building was built on the site where Benjamin da Costa lived in Grenfell Street, Adelaide city. At St Peter’s college, a hall, house and scholarship were named after him.
St Peter’s College sold Da Costa Arcade, near Rundle Mall, in 2005 but a large part of the estate remains prominent city-centre locations. Income from the estate subsidises the fees of all students, along with scholarships and bursaries.
