Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/267

 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY H' N Hon. Sir Richard Chaffey Baker, K.C.M.G, Q.C, M.A., ]^arristcr-at-linv and President of the f^eoislative Conucil. C) one occupies a higher place in the eyes of South AustraHans than Sir Richard Chaffey Baker, and his I)iography is co-extensive with the growth of the history of the Province. Sir Richard Baker, who is the "I-'ather of the South Austrahan Legislative CounciL' was born at North Adelaide on June 2 2, 1842, in the early years ot the Province's history. He is the son of the Hon. John Baker, a politician and patriot, whose yeoman's services to the Leofisla- tive Council and the Province can never be effaced from the memory of contemporary settlers. There is much in heredity, and perhaps more in domestic principle and example, which makes for |)ro- ducing those desirable factors of mind and character which con- stitute a good citizen. Sir Richard's father was a man endeared to all by his distin- ability, his unremitting guishec labors in the interest of colonists, and his zeal for ad- vancing general ])rosperit- ; who was esteemed in his lifetime, and honored and bewept on his death. One of the Province's Hammer & Co, Fhoto oldest pioneers, Mr. John Baker arrived in Adelaide in 1838. He was a scion of an old and well-known Somersetshire family— the Bakers of South Petherton, Ilminster, Yeovil, and the neighborhood. Pluck and dogged tenacity of purpose were characteristic of the early settlers in South Australia. They had to rely on their energy and perseverance in encountering and lor overcoming the immense difficulties which surrounded them, and they could not, and would not, had they been able so to do, like the effete and State-supported products of coddling legislati(jn, rush to the Government for aid and assistance in every difficulty. Among this self-reliant portion of a nation the