Behind the Streets of Adelaide
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A beautifully presented three-volume compendium of biographies that provides a revealing insight into the lives of the men and women who shaped the unique state of South Australia and the city of Adelaide In an economically depressed Britain, permeated by the fear of revolution, the early-nineteenth century saw the glories of Wellington’s victories over Napoleon fade into the background against a groundswell and clamour for political change. Wellington’s 1830s Tory government soon found itself on the wrong side of history, and Britain on the cusp of significant social and economic change. Into this crucible stepped the ‘Philosophical Radicals’ – a group of largely young, well-educated and privileged reformers. In coalition with the Whigs and fuelled by the economic theories of greats like Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham and Colonel Robert Torrens, the reformers took their collective voice for change into the British Reform Parliament of 1832, successfully transforming theory into practice. Their dissenting cries precipitated monumental reforms, including the South Australia Act of 1834. The non-penal colony was unique. It was planned according to the economic principles of ‘systematic colonisation’, as first proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whereby capital rather than labour was exported and emigrating Britons bought ‘land orders’ ahead of their arrival. And it was to be established free of government funding. In South Australia the reformers supplanted their dream for a new social and political order underpinned by the principles of: * economic liberalism * free trade between nations * religious freedom * admission of women to parliament * voting rights to all * land transfer mechanisms, which eventually led to the Torrens Title System. Grote, Wakefield, Light and Gouger are just some of the well-known streets and squares in the city of Adelaide. But the personal stories of how these and other reformers came to be named in Adelaide’s streets have been largely overlooked. Who were they? What drove them? Why do some believe they constitute a ‘pantheon of dissent’? In Behind the Streets of Adelaide Dr Jeff Nicholas pays tribute to the 62 men and women named in Adelaide’s streets, revealing the significant historical meaning of South Australia’s establishment in an important book that serves to remind South Australians of their state’s unique origins and capacity for enduring economic and social progress. * Limited-edition hardback set * * Individually numbered by hand * Volume 1 chapters Volume 2 chapters Volume 3 chapters 1 Introduction 1 John Rundle 1 Duke of Wellington 2 The Gallery 2 Charles Hindley 2 Sir Rowland Hill 16 Samuel Mills 3 Preconditions in Britain 3 Pascoe St Leger Grenfell 3 Sir John Jeffcott 17 Sir John George Shaw Lefevre 4 Wakefield & the Political Economists 4 Raikes Currie 4 Jacob Montefiore 18 Colonel George Palmer Jnr 5 The Street Naming Committee 5 Sir John Pirie 5 Daniel O’Connell 19 Lord Brougham 6 Queen Adelaide 6 Henry Waymouth 6 Sir Henry George Ward 20 Josiah Roberts 7 King William IV 7 Matthew Flinders 7 Edward George Barnard 21 James Pennington 8 Queen Victoria 8 Sir John Franklin 8 Thomas Archer 22 William Kermode 9 Colonel Robert Torrens 9 George Fife Angas 9 Sir William Molesworth 23 William Alexander Mackinnon 10 Edward Gibbon Wakefield 10 Robert Gouger 10 Charles Kemeys Kemeys Tynte 24 Boyle Travers Finniss 11 George Grote 11 John Abel Smith (Carrington) 11 Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton 25 Lord Melbourne 12 Sir John Hindmarsh 12 John Wright 12 William Glegg Gover 26 Edward Geoffrey Stanley 13 Sir James Hurtle Fisher 13 Thomas Halifax 13 John Walbanke Childers 27 Sir George Kingston 14 Colonel William Light 14 Captain Charles Sturt 14 Maria Hack (nee Barton) 28 Edmund William Jerningham 15 William Wolryche Whitmore 15 Osmond Gilles 15 Thomas Bewes Strangways 29 Charles Mann 16 Thomas Gilbert 17 Sir William Hutt 18 Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm 19 Sir Richard Davies Hanson 20 John Brown 21 Sir John Morphett Available for purchase at www.torrenspress.com.