First South Australia governor Hindmarsh in authority clash with resident commissioner James Hurtle Fisher

South Australia's first governor John Hindmarsh and the resident commissioner James Hurtle Fisher.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia

The South Australian colony started with authority split between the governor John Hindmarsh and the resident commissioner, James Hurtle Fisher, in charge of land sales. The governor represented the British crown and government while Fisher was the resident South Australian representative of the colonisation commission in London.

Governor Hindmarsh was a former naval officer chosen ahead of William Light for the post. As a naval officer, his greatest concern was access to a working port that he believed should be at Port Lincoln. Even before leaving England, he regularly disagreed with the William Light (surveyor-general) and commissioner Fisher about the site and governance of the City of Adelaide.

“Bluff Jack Hindmarsh” arrived at Holdfast Bay on December 28, 1836, without any financial support from the British crown and government he represented. Fisher represented the colonisation commission as the colony’s only source of funding through land sales for emigration.

Hindmarsh had an advisory governing council, with Fisher as a member as resident commissioner, along with a judge or chief justice, the colonial secretary (Robert Gouger) and advocate-general (Charles Mann). The council regulated behaviour in the province by setting up a court system, a Masters and Servants Act to control workers, and rules for sale of liquor, in 1837. But Fisher and his allies gradually left the governing council as the rift between his faction and the autocratic Hindmarsh deepened.

Light, who worked for Fisher, was hampered in his surveying by lack of resources. To appease Hindmarsh, Light surveyed 29 sections at Port Adelaide. Other surveys were held up by disputes among the colonists, and particularly those involved with Hindmarsh, to move the capital to Encounter Bay or Port Lincoln. This uncertainty upset settlers anxious to know the location of their land. It also held up public works and fuelled land speculation.

The major incident – and test of authority ­– came when Hindmarsh was overruled in favour of Light’s choice for the Adelaide city site (and later on the names of city streets). Trivial differences between Hindmarsh and Fisher rose into trials of strength.

Fisher sent the deputy surveyor George Kingston to London to complain about Hindmarsh’s incompetence. As bitterness rose, Hindmarsh suspended colonial secretary Robert Gouger and other public officers. The colonisation commissioners in London brought the matter before the British secretary of state for the Colonies.

Hindmarsh was recalled to London in 1838 to be replaced by another military officer: George Gawler. Gawler would also take over the role of resident commissioner.