John Hindmarsh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the English racecar driver and aviator see John Stuart Hindmarsh.

Governor John Hindmarsh

Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH RN (c.1779 – 29 July 1860) was the first Governor of South Australia, from 28 December 1836 to 16 July 1838.

[edit] Naval career

Hindmarsh joined the Royal Navy in 1793, seeing action at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, the Battle of Algeciras Bay (or the Battle of the Gut of Gibraltar) and at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 where he was briefly the only officer on the deck of the HMS Bellerophon where he gave orders which saved the ship from destruction. He was promoted lieutenant in 1803. He served on HMS Phoebe at the Battle of Trafalgar, at the Battle of the Basque Roads (1809) on HMS Beagle and at the Battle of Java on HMS Nisus. A period of inaction followed, but in 1830 he was in command of the HMS 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 the Colonial Office. When the Naval General Service Medal, designed by William 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 Sir James Alexander Gordon.

[edit] Governor

Hindmarsh arrived in South Australia in 28 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 on Kangaroo 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 the Murray River, instead of at the present site which had been selected by Light. Light eventually chose the site of Adelaide, and the fleet moved up the Gulf of Saint Vincent to Holdfast Bay, off the present-day suburb of Glenelg. The proclamation creating the colony was read on 28 December 1836 under the 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 suspend Robert Gouger and other public officers, the commissioners brought the matter before the secretary of state for the colonies. Hindmarsh was then recalled to London in 1838. In 1840 he was made as Lieutenant-Governor of Heligoland. Hindmarsh was knighted by Queen Victoria on 7 August 1851, attained the rank of rear-admiral in 1856 and retired in 1856 to the seaside town of Hove, England.

[edit] 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 on 29 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.

[edit] Places named after John Hindmarsh

The Division of Hindmarsh federal electorate in the area near the proclamation is named after him.
Hindmarsh Island near the Murray Mouth.
Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide is an open space area in Adelaide.
Hindmarsh Drive runs through the districts of Weston Creek and South Canberra in Canberra, Australia.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Serle, Percival. (1949). "Hindmarsh, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
'Hindmarsh, Sir John (1785 - 1860)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, pp 538-541.
Template:From Powder Monkey to Governor, the Life of Rear Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh, F Stewart Hindmarsh, Access Press 1995, ISBN 0 949795 88 7

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.