Media: BOOK - hardcover in original dustjacket - 198 pages
Author: D. Elder
Year: 1984
Publisher: Wakefield Press

The reasons that led me to fix Adelaide where it is I do not expect to be generally understood or calmlyjudged 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. lam 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.
BRIEF JOURNAL

The instructions given to Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of‘the new British Province of South Australia’, were inclusive and precise, yet strictly unworkable. A vast, generally uncharted coastline was to be explored; the site of the capital city, selected and surveyed. And this was to be done in just a few months prior to the arrival of settlers.

That Light was, as the Colonization Commissioners observed, ‘peculiarly and preeminently qualified’ for the task is attested in David Elder’s account of his remarkable life and accomplishments. That he kept to his purpose, and succeeded, in spite of uninformed and persistent criticism, officious obstruction, and failing health, is no longer questioned.

This book collects Light’s Australian journals for the first time. Many of his maps and watercolours also appear, including significant works never before published or displayed.

CONTENTS
List of Plates
Publisher’s Acknowledgements
Foreword - John Bannon
Introduction - David Elder
Preface
I Preamble
II The Boy
III The Youth
IV The Soldier
V The Wanderer
VI The Task
VII The Accomplishment
VIII The Rift
IX The Decline
X The Aftermath
Brief Journal
Letter of Instructions
Diary of a Journey to Lynedoch Valley, December 1837
Diary of a Journey to Lynedoch Valley, January 1839
Last Diary
Appendix
Bibliography
Notes on the Illustrations - John Tregenza
William Light and the Rapid - Robert Sexton
Index