Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/402

 376 ADRLAIUK AND VICINITY Mr. csAMruige visit, Mr. AldridCTc won the hioh jump and the mile race, and ran second for the hundred yards, a very excellent performance. As a cricketer, he compiled his " centuries." and he was well known as a footballer, gymnast, and boxer. On the historic occasion, when the 50th Regiment was quartered in Adelaide, and challenged the civilians to a football match. Mr. Aldridge and his fellow-townsmen won easily, in spite of the rough play of the warriors, whose main object was apparently to leave their 0]:)ponents dead on the battle-field. At 21 years of age Mr. Aldridge joined a survey party to the Northern Territory under Mr. G. V. Goyder. This survey was a remarkable one, the men working from daylight to dark in a wild and dangerous country. It was during this trip that one of the survey camps with which Mr. Aldridge was attached was attacked by a tribe of blacks from the Adelaide River, and Messrs. Bennett and Guy were speared, the former dying of his wound.s. Three years later, when the Northern Territory mining " boom " broke out in Adelaide, Mr. Aldridge joined Messrs. J. F. Roberts, John Servante, and Wickliffe Stow in a prospecting expedition to the Territory. The party underwent Jiiany hardships. They discovered and worked for twelve months the " Woolwonga " Mine, which gave excellent results ; but the " boom " having collapsed in Adelaide, no capital was forthcoming, and the mine was abandoned. Mr. Aldridge then went to the Sandy Creek Diggings, and did very well ; but an attack of malarial fever compelled him to return to Adelaide. He came back in the ill-fated Gothenburg, which was wrecked on the following trip, with the loss of many valuable lives. Mr. Aldridge next became an auctioneer in conjunction with his old schoolfellow, Mr. Theodore Bruce. Subsequently Mr. R. W. E. Henning joined the firm, which had a large and prosperous busines.s. They also, in conjunction with Mr. W. T. Ferrers, conducted a large brewing business at Port Augusta. In i8<S<S Mr. Aldridge made his last change of occupation, becoming a member of the Stock Flxchange of Adelaide ; and on March 27, 1889, on the death of the then President, Mr. Henry Bellingham, he was elected to the chair, and has since continued to hold that office. There is no institution more repre.sentative of the enterprising and speculative nature which is born in the average South Australian than the Stock Exchange of Adelaide. The small community of this Province is probably the most remarkable in the world in this direction. A mere handful of people, and in spite of the low prices and disastrous seasons which overwhelm their own resources, they are ever ready to find immense sums of money to exploit any likely mining field on the continent of Australia. After spending large amounts in endeavoring to find minerals in their own territory, they were the first to push into the .Silverton and Broken Hill country. When silver fell, and a crash came in all Broken Hill stocks, Adelaide suffered terribly ; and yet this small community was the first to develop the great new fields in Western Australia. At the present time the people of South Australia hold mining stock representing millions of pounds in value. By their enterprise in every direction, the .Stock Exchange of Adelaide has taken precedence over the .Stock PLxchanges of Melbourne and Sydney, and its tran.sactions are daily cabled to the great P-nglish newspapers. It is, therefore, no small honor for Mr. Aldridge that he should be the head of this remarkable in.stitution. But he well merits the position, for he has not only gained respect as an honorable business man, but he is also a gentleman ol kindly and courteous dis|K)sition. 1