Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/570

 544 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY Mr. Edward Spicer MR. EDWARD SPICER retains a vivid recollection of what took place in South Australia in 1838 and in the grey old years which have piled upon each other his venerable career. He was born in London on January i, 1817 — not two years after Waterloo— and in early manhood came to the new Province of South Australia to devote his bodily vigor and mental energy to the furtherance of British colonisation. He arrived at Port Adelaide in 1838, with the express object of entering into pastoral pursuits. At this time the early pastoralists of New South Wales had brought Australia into slight fame by proving the adapta- bility of its grassy stretches to sheep-breeding; and Mr. Spicer believed that there would be little difficulty in inaugurating such an industry in the recently - formed and well-advertised Province of South Australia. But his first experiences were not encouraging, for immediately upon his arrival he learnt that to obtain a nucleus for his flocks he would have to ])ay from £2 to ^3 per head for sheep landed at Holdfast Bay from Tasmania. It would have required a fortune to make any beginning under such circum- stances. With hopes slightly diminished, he proceeded to Hammer & Co., Photo Adelaide — a clustcr of a few rude huts and tents— and erected, on a piece of land for which he paid ;^2o, a iwo-roomed tenement, at the west end of where Currie Street now stands. Even the building of such a modest residence as this was fraught with considerable difficulty, and, to obtain water from the Torrens, Mr. Spicer had to draw it in a barrel. The whole of the work was done by himself, and the total cost of land and materials was £<o. This dwelling was used principally as a central residence. He did not, however, relinquish his intention to start sheep-farming, but soon after sold his cottage, and settled on land four miles from town (now called Edwardstown) — the whole of the country from the Cemetery to the Sturt being then unoccupied and available as a sheep-run. In 1839 he and five