- John Hindmarsh
Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH RN (1785 [There is evidence that his parents married on 23 August 1784. Although he could have been born out of wedlock some years earlier, the marriage date is consistent with his baptism as an infant on 22 May 1785. A member of the Hindmarsh family claimed in 1965 to have seen the parish register recording the 1785 baptism. — ADB Online Project ] –29 July 1860 ) was the firstGovernor of South Australia , from28 December 1836 to16 July 1838 .__NOTOC__Naval career
Hindmarsh joined the
Royal Navy in 1793, seeing action at theBattle of the Glorious First of June , theBattle of Algeciras Bay (or the Battle of the Gut of Gibraltar) and at theBattle of the Nile in 1798 where he was briefly the only officer on the deck of HMS Bellerophon where he gave orders which saved the ship from destruction. He was promoted lieutenant in 1803. He served onHMS Phoebe at theBattle of Trafalgar , at theBattle of the Basque Roads (1809) onHMS Beagle and at the Battle of Java on HMS Nisus. A period of inaction followed, but in 1830 he was in command ofHMS Scylla and was made a Rear Admiral in 1831. In 1836 he went to South Australia as its first governor after winning influential support and applying theColonial Office . When theNaval General Service Medal , designed byWilliam Wyon , was introduced, it was discovered that only 2 people were entitled to the medal with seven clasps (one clasp for each battle the recipient took part in): Sir John Hindmarsh and Admiral of the Fleet SirJames Alexander Gordon .Governor
Hindmarsh arrived in
South Australia in28 December 1836 , with a fleet of ships carrying the first British settlers for the colony. The ships in the fleet included the "Cygnet" (carrying Colonel William Light's surveyors), "Africaine", "Tam O'Shanter", "Rapid", and "Buffalo" (carrying Hindmarsh). Initially they landed onKangaroo Island , and sent out the team of surveyors led by Light to find a suitable place for the capital city of the new colony. Hindmarsh wanted it near the mouth of theMurray River , instead of at the present site which had been selected by Light. Light eventually chose the site ofAdelaide , and the fleet moved up theGulf of Saint Vincent toHoldfast Bay , off the present-day suburb of Glenelg. The proclamation creating the colony was read on28 December 1836 underthe Old Gum Tree .There was some question as to the respective powers of the governor and the resident commissioner,
James Hurtle Fisher , and the two came into open conflict. Feeling ran high and when Hindmarsh went so far as to suspendRobert Gouger and other public officers, the commissioners brought the matter before the secretary of state for the colonies. Hindmarsh was then recalled toLondon in 1838. In 1840 he was made as Lieutenant-Governor ofHeligoland . Hindmarsh was knighted by Queen Victoria on7 August 1851 , attained the rank of rear-admiral in 1856 and retired in 1856 to the seaside town ofHove , England.Legacy
Hindmarsh lived at 30 Albany Villas for a number of years, where there is now a plaque in his honour. Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh died in
London on29 July 1860 and is buried in the grounds of St Andrews Church, Hove. Hindmarsh was governor of South Australia for little more than a year, an unfortunate episode in an otherwise distinguished career. His position was anomalous from the start, and, though he was sometimes wanting in both tact and wisdom, his difficulties were great. For an interesting summary see A. Grenfell Price's "Founders and Pioneers of South Australia", p. 92. His daughter Jane married Alfred Miller Mundy MP ofShipley Hall ,Derbyshire , and was the mother of Maria, who married Sir Constantine Phipps, father of ambassador SirEric Phipps Places named after John Hindmarsh
*The Adelaide suburb of
Hindmarsh was originally laid out as a speculative subdivision, the Village of Hindmarsh, on land owned by him. It was for many years the centre of a Local Government Area called the Town of Hindmarsh, which has now been amalgamated into theCity of Charles Sturt .
*TheDivision of Hindmarsh federal electorate takes in the area near the proclamation site.
*Hindmarsh Island is near the town ofGoolwa , close to theMurray Mouth .
*TheHindmarsh River flows intoEncounter Bay south of Adelaide.
*Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide is an open space public park within theCity of Adelaide .
*Hindmarsh Drive runs through the districts ofWeston Creek andSouth Canberra inCanberra ,Australia .External links
* [http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?dID=2 Letters Patent]
* [http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/picturealbum.asp?aID=6#pID2 the proclamation handwritten notes]References
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=John|Last=Hindmarsh|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogHi-Hu.html#hindmarsh1
*' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010498b.htm Hindmarsh, Sir John (1785 - 1860)] ', "Australian Dictionary of Biography ", Volume 1, MUP, 1966, pp 538-541.
*"From Powder Monkey to Governor, the Life of Rear Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh", F Stewart Hindmarsh, Access Press 1995, ISBN 0 949795 88 7
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