Instructions for Light's role in the expedition "for the purpose of effecting such a survey of the different harbours and the adjoining land as may be necessary to the correct determination of the best site for the first town" were given in a document dated 9 March 1836. There Light was the first to accurately chart the
Port Adelaide River, before selecting the location and designing and laying out the plan of the City of
Adelaide. This he did, and managed to plan and found the city in only eight weeks, after a 14-day delay caused by George Strickland Kingston's incompetence.
Location The site chosen by Light spanned the
River Torrens, or Karra Wirra Parri, as it was known by the local people. One of the reasons he chose the location was because he observed that the
Adelaide Hills would result in higher rainfall on the Adelaide plain. This was a promising indicator of good conditions for avoidance of
drought-prone areas. Settlement sites on Encounter Bay, Kangaroo Island, Spencer's Gulf, the West coast of St Vincent's Gulf and Holdfast Bay (now known as
Glenelg) had been rejected. The site had many challenges, but Light wrote that he chose the site "because it was on a beautiful and gently rising ground, and formed altogether a better connection with the river than any other place". Despite the natural advantages of the site, Light faced opposition, mainly from Hindmarsh, who wished to locate the city near the
River Murray mouth near
Encounter Bay, and some of settlers, who objected to the distance from the port. The opposition to the plan culminated in a meeting on 10 February, at which a letter from Light to Resident Commissioner
James Hurtle Fisher outlining the reasons for his choice, praising the good soil, extensive neighbouring plains and sheep grazing, a plentiful year-round supply of excellent fresh water, easy communication with its harbour, proximity to the
Murray River, as well as the beauty of the country. The letter included a personal note: "The reasons that led me to fix Adelaide where it is I do not expect to be generally understood or calmly judged of at present. My enemies however, by disputing their validity in every particular, have done me the good service of fixing the whole of the responsibility upon me. I am perfectly willing to bear it, and I leave it to posterity and not to them, to decide whether I am entitled to praise or to blame". An amendment proposed by Dr Wright and seconded by Deputy Surveyor
George Strickland Kingston upheld Light's selection in March 1837. After a quarrel between Hindmarsh and Resident Commissioner Fisher, which also drew in other settlers and officials, Colonial Secretary Gouger, one of Light's chief supporters, was suspended and replaced. In December 1837, Judge John Jeffcott was drowned at Encounter Bay (himself being a supporter of Hindmarsh's view and at the time trying to prove the safety of the Bay). Soon after this, Hindmarsh complained formally about the slow progress of the surveys, while at the same time hindering Light's work. Parties explored nearby areas, Light continued with his work on plans, supported by most settlers, and in July of that year, Hindmarsh was recalled.
City plan When Light was designing Adelaide, his plans included surrounding the city with of
park. Of these, he reserved 32 acres for one of the world's earliest public cemeteries, now called
West Terrace Cemetery. Light referred to his unique figure-eight of open space as "Adelaide Park". Later, the purchase of the lands of Light's Adelaide Park, and repeated correspondence and discussions about the Adelaide Park land/lands eventually corrupted his original name to "Adelaide Park Lands". Light placed the city to the north and south of the river, avoiding areas prone to flooding and making best use of the local
topography. Due to local demands Light also planned Town Sections at the old Port Adelaide harbour and 29 were selected. it follows part of a series of rules created by Spanish planners for their colonial cities, known as the "
Laws of the Indies". They included the grid pattern with a main thoroughfare, centred around a main square. There are many historical precedents for five squares, including
Philadelphia in
America, designed in 1682 by surveyor
Thomas Holme, however Light's Plan has six public squares. There are however no records showing that Light deliberately copied any cities or rules for planning, and his implementation of planning principles for a beautiful and healthy city, melded sensitively and intelligently with the landscape, is unique. "Light's vision" was to create an urban form which complemented nature, done with conscious purpose. Long before Light was engaged, the colonisation of South Australia had been designed as a kind of social experiment, drawing on the thinking of many notable minds:
Jeremy Bentham,
George Grote,
Robert Owen,
John Stuart Mill, and, closest to home,
Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Cities such as the ancient Greek
city-states, those in Spain’s colonies of the
New World and
British Canada,
Pennsylvania and other American cities,
New South Wales,
Van Diemen’s Land and
Swan River Colony had been carried out. His plan bears a close resemblance to Gother Mann’s 1788 "Plan for Torento Harbour" (which was never laid out as planned, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, although a differently laid out town, named York, was established to its west, which later eventually expanded east and north covering the unrealised 'Torento' model township site, and renamed
Toronto, Canada), particularly in the square "Town Acres". Primary source researcher Kelly Henderson has confirmed that there is an extant original 1838
cadastral map of Adelaide, held by the State Library of South Australia. It was commissioned from Light, Finniss & Co. by the South Australian Company, shows the company's properties, and is signed with his firm's name by William Light, at the firm's office in Stephens Place, [Adelaide] in Oct 1838. ==After resignation==