Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/416

 390 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Mr. w. p. Auia Mill Street. Hanover Square, London, to which his son shipped over 150,000 gallons of Auldana wine, a sample made from I'Vontignac selling in one line for 80s. a gallon. Hv this venture Mr. Auld pioneered the .sale of South Australian wines on the Eno-Hsh market. After a busy life, and one of considerable- importance and value to .South Australia, he died on January 21, 1886. Mr. W. P. Auld studied at King's College, London, where he remained for four years. In 1853 he returned to this Province, and completed his school career at the educational establishment of Mr. J. L. Young, Adelaide. Mr. Auld entered as a cadet in the office of the late Mr. G. W. Goyder. C.M.G., who was for many years honorably known as the Surveyor-General of South Australia. He was associated with survey work for two years, and then joined the expedition of J. McDouall Stuart, which succeeded in traversing the continent from south to north. Twice before had Stuart gone into the interior, and twice had he to return to Adelaide, defeated in his effort to cross from shore to shore. On the first occasion, when two-thirds of the way over, he was driven back by natives; on the second, he reached lat. 17°, where he was stopped by desolate expanses of scrub. In his succe.ssful expedition, besides Mr. Auld, he was accompanied by Vm. Kekwick, I W. Thring, F. G. Waterhou.se (naturalist), Stephen King, John Billiat, James F"rew, Herth Nash, and John McGorgery. These were the men who performed the great feat which had for many years excited and daunted Australian explorers. On November 7, i86r, the party left the .settled districts of South Australia; in April, 1862, Stuart reached the northern limit of his previous expedition ; and on July 24, he and his brave men stood on the beach of Van Diemen Gulf, and looked out over the waters of the Indian Ocean. The dreary tracts separating the south from the north were marked by their footprints. We are told that before going forth, Stuart promised Governor MacDonnell to dip his feet and wash his hands in the Indian Ocean before he returned to Adelaide, and to hoist the Union Jack on the northern strand. He fulfilled his promise with the aid of his companions. Numerous features of the country were named by the party which accomplished the difficult journey, at the expense of considerable suffering and great hardships. To this day Mr. Auld possesses interesting relics of the party, such as Stuart's MS. and the beautifully written diary of the explorer. Mr. Auld was next a member of the expedition which founded settlement in the Northern Territor), and is therefore in a double sense a pioneer of that remote part of the South Australian Province. In 1864, the Hon. B. T. Finniss was appointed first Government Resident of the Northern Territory, and, accompanied by a numerous party, proceeded to Adam Bay, and selected a site for the northern capital at the mouth of the Adelaide River. A few years later this locality was abandoned as unsuited, and Port Darwin was chosen in its place. This was the concluding effort of Mr. Auld in j)ioneer exploration. As a member of the distinguished Stuart band of explorers, his name will be remembered for his creditable assistance in a great work. It was only by the help of each hardy member of these parties that the early long journeys were made. In 1886 Mr. Auld turned his attention to quieter pursuits. He joined his father in business, and since that time has been associated with the history and expansion of .South Australian wine-making. When the father went home to establish the London branch, the son, as already mentioned, looked after the local business. Spent in such a