William Light

Colonel William Light (27 April 1786 � 6 October 1839) was a British military officer and the first Surveyor-General of the Colony of South Australia. He is famous for choosing the site of the colony's capital, Adelaide, and designing the layout of its streets and parks in the Adelaide city centre and Adelaide Park Lands.

At the age of 13, Light volunteered for the Royal Navy, in which he served for two years. He then travelled through Europe and India before joining the 4th Dragoons regiment of the British Army in 1808. After courageous service in Spain against Napoleon's forces from 1809 to 1814, during the Peninsular War, he went on to serve in various parts of Britain as a Captain. He married E. Perois in Ireland in 1821. In 1823 he returned to Spain to fight French invasion in the Spanish Army as a lieutenant colonel. He was badly wounded and spent the next six years travelling Europe and the Mediterranean, accompanied by his second wife Mary Bennet (due to a lack of information his first wife is presumed dead).

Between 1830 and 1835 he helped Mohammad Ali, founder of modern Egypt, to establish a Navy. Here Light met Rear Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh, who served under him and succeeded him as captain of the Nile.

Light was initially considered for the position of Governor of South Australia - this was, however, given to Hindmarsh. Instead, in 1835, Light was appointed Surveyor-General of the new colony. He sailed for South Australia with his mistress Maria Gandy (his second wife having left him for another man) and some of his staff on the Rapid.

There Light selected the location and laid out the street plan of the city of Adelaide. The Adelaide city centre was planned by Light in a grid fashion. One of the reasons he chose the location was because clouds drifting over the nearby Adelaide Hills would provide rainfall. This was a promising indicator of good conditions for agriculture. Another was that the location was adjacent to the perennial creek grandly named the River Torrens; the available supply of fresh water was a problem throughout the new colony, and had resulted in the rejection of, or relocation of, settlement sites on Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln and Holdfast Bay (now known as Glenelg).

When Colonel Light was designing Adelaide, his plans included surrounding the city with 1,700 acres (690 ha) of parklands. This would provide clean fresh air throughout Adelaide. European cities often had polluted stale air and Light wanted to avoid this occurring in Adelaide. Ironically, white settlers denuded the Adelaide Plains of trees in the first decade of their settlement.

It is sometimes claimed that Colonel Light also designed the city of Christchurch in New Zealand. However, this is not possible; Light died in Adelaide in 1839, whereas Christchurch was not settled until 1850.

Light's role in founding and designing the South Australian capital is remembered as "Light's Vision", and commemorated with a statue on Montefiore Hill, also named "Light's Vision", of Light pointing to the City of Adelaide below.

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