Page:The founding of South Australia.djvu/16

 Robert Gouger's mother was a remarkable woman, and her influence left its distinct mark on the characters of all her children. She was particularly clever and well read, and could enter into the studies of her children in their school-days, however abstruse the subjects might be, no less than when in later life her sons embarked on their careers. When grown to manhood she guided them with her counsel; it was to her keen judgment they submitted the points they could not solve themselves. It was she who made the brightness, attractiveness, and happiness of a beautiful home-life, and at the same time inspired her children to press forward to wider fields of action and intellectual attainment. She lived in advance of her time, and in knowledge and accomplishment was abreast of the most advanced of the women of her day. This in no way detracted from her activity in household duties, but only gave a zest to them, and her wise management enabled her to devote her time and thought to the subjects which interested her children. With her son Robert, and his schemes for colonisation, she was in such full sympathy that there was scarcely a phase in the many-sided subject she did not thoroughly understand, nor a situation in which he was in perplexity in which she could not render practical aid.

To both father and mother each member of the family owed a deep debt of gratitude for the formation of their characters.

Of the brothers of Robert Gouger, the subject of this memorial, the career of Henry was