Light's Vision

The Light's Vision commemoration at Montefiore Hill in North Adelaide

The Light's Vision commemoration at Montefiore Hill in North Adelaide, at night

The first surveyor-general of Adelaide, South Australia, Colonel William Light designed a layout and development programme for the city. This plan is now known as "Light's Vision". Notable aspects of Light's plan are that the city centre is laid out in a grid-like pattern, with squares in the centre of the city and in the centres of the four quarters of the city, and the city is surrounded by Parklands.

Legend has it that William Light stood on Montefiore Hill (in North Adelaide) in 1837, pointed at what would one day become the Adelaide city centre, and began planning the city. This moment is commemorated by a statue by Glaswegian sculptor Birnie Rhind on Montefiore Hill (moved from its original Victoria Square position in 1938), pointing at the City of Adelaide below. With the passage of time, both the commemorative statue and the piece of land on which it stands have also come to be referred to as "Light's Vision", rather than its official full name "Light's Vision commemoration".

Light's decision on Adelaide's location was initially unpopular among the settlers, foremost with South Australia's first governor, John Hindmarsh, but Light and the resident commissioner James Hurtle Fisher were empowered to decide the location of the colony's first city. Hindmarsh, a maritime hero (Battle of the Nile) was fixated on Encounter Bay on the basis of it being the location of the Murray, the inland river transport anticipated. Hindmarsh was recalled to London to answer charges of misconduct, George Gawler replacing him.

The indecision caused by the dispute over the final location of the capital created uncertainty and a long delay in the survey of country sections. This, and an early property boom in the Adelaide Square Mile damaged the cashflow of the settlement which was found to be officially bankrupt after Gawler invested heavily in town development including the generously proportioned Adelaide Gaol.

Behind this statue (north and north-east) is Aquinas College, which is affiliated with the University of Adelaide. To the north-west is Carclew. In front of the statue are parklands which include the Adelaide Oval and Memorial Drive, and, of course, a view over the Adelaide city centre which is the realisation of "Light's Vision".

See also

• Montefiore Hill

External links

• South Australia Central
• South Australian Tourism Commission
• City of Adelaide