Light's Vision

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Light's Vision commemoration at Montefiore Hill in North Adelaide

The first surveyor-general of Adelaide, South Australia, Colonel William Light designed a layout and development programme for the city. This project is now known as Light's Vision. Legend has it that William Light stood on Montefiore Hill (in North Adelaide) in 1837, pointed at what would one day become the central business district of Adelaide, and immediately began planning the city. This moment is commemorated by a statue by Glaswegian sculptor Birnie Rhind on Montefiore Hill (moved from its original Victoria Square position in 1938), pointing at the City of Adelaide below. One noticeable aspect of Light's plan was that the city was laid out in squares, creating a grid-like pattern that has been an asset to the city in recent times; reducing the possibility of congestion, or grid-lock.

Light's decision on Adelaide's location was initially unpopular among the settlers, including with South Australia's first governor, John Hindmarsh, but Light persisted and eventually managed to convince Hindmarsh.