HomePeopleGovernor John Hindmarsh

Sir John Hindmarsh (1785-1860) was the first Governor of South Australia. A naval officer through and through, John Hindmarsh began his career on HMS Bellerophon at the age of fourteen and served in Nelson’s Navy in the Mediterranean and East Indies. In 1802, he applied for the position of lieutenant with papers showing a birth date of 1782—instead of his real birth year, 1785—and received his promotion at the age of eighteen.

Fresh from an unsuccessful military venture in the Mediterranean, Hindmarsh was well placed to take advantage of Colonel James Charles Napier’s resignation from the Governorship of the proposed colony of South Australia in 1835. While Napier had hoped to give the position to Colonel Light, Hindmarsh secured the approval of Lord Glenelg.

In July 1836, Sir John Hindmarsh, his wife Susannah Wilson Edmeades and their four children set sail from Spithead, England. In his command of HMS Buffalo, and its 173 passengers, Governor Hindmarsh was an autocratic and abstemious captain. He had little time or inclination to deal with non-seafaring types, and was not well-liked by the passengers.

As a naval officer, his greatest concern was access to a working Port. Hindmarsh believed that the colonists should settle at Port Lincoln. Even before departure from England, he regularly disagreed with the surveyor-general Colonel Light and Commissioner Fisher about the placement and governance of the City of Adelaide.

Once in the colony, the disagreement about the site for the city of Adelaide continued. After a failed attempt to exert his authority – he lost a public vote to move the site of Adelaide – Hindmarsh’s authority from then on was continually disputed and his governance was hampered by opposition from Fisher and other like minded colonists. Eventually bowing to pressure the Colonial Office recalled Hindmarsh to England ending his role as Governor of South Australia. He went on to become the governor of the island of Heligoland, on which he found a somewhat more successful venture. After returning to England, he died on the 29 July 1860.

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By Allison Russell, History Trust of South Australia

Cite this

Allison Russell, History Trust of South Australia, ‘Governor John Hindmarsh’, SA History Hub, History Trust of South Australia, https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/people/governor-john-hindmarsh/

Sources

National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, ‘Hindmarsh, Sir John (1785–1860)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hindmarsh-sir-john-1315, accessed 12 June 2018.

History Trust of South Australia, ‘Governor John Hindmarsh’, Bound for South Australia, http://boundforsouthaustralia.com.au/journey-content/governor-hindmarsh.html, accessed 12 June 2018.


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Margaret Weber
Margaret Weber
3 years ago

Hello, I don’t know whether you can help me but I do know that my ancestor Mary Anne Roberts travelled on the Buffalo to South Australia. She was recorded as being 16 and a housemaid from Purbrook travelling with her brother , mother and father.
The family has always said that she was a nanny to Governor Hindmarshes children , which may have been just for the duration of the voyage .
Are you able to shed any light on this and or any other information about her
In anticipation
Regards
Margaret Weber

Catherine Manning
Catherine Manning
3 years ago
Reply to  Margaret Weber

Hi Margaret, I’m afraid I haven’t found her on the lists I’ve looked at. It might be worth trying State Records – https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/m… and searching the newspapers in Trove – https://trove.nla.gov.au/
Best of luck with your research.