Shelf-Employed: The Indie Publishing Podcast 

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ript: Episode 11: South Australia’s History Festival 2026

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It's time for the History Festival in South Australia, and Lee said we should do a podcast about who was the first published author in South Australia, our home state….so…I went down a research rabbit hole.

For those that don’t know, the South Australia History Festival is an annual statewide celebration in May that explores the state’s history through tours, talks, exhibitions, walks, and workshops for all ages. The 2026 History Festival runs throughout May and invites participants to explore South Australia’s rich history, from family stories and local communities to broader social movements and cultural milestones. The festival emphasises connections across time, place, and people, highlighting how past events continue to shape the state’s identity. 

 

The first publication in South Australia is widely regarded to be Colonel William Light's A Brief Journal of the Proceedings of William Light, late Surveyor-General of the Province of South Australia, with a few remarks on some of the objections that have been made to them. This was published by A. Macdougall in 1839. In the context of the era, most literature in South Australia prior to the formal settlement of the state was imported books from England. The majority of publications in the time period were published in London, Australia, and indeed, South Australia did have newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets and gazettes printed here in the state, but Light’s journal publication is generally recognised as the first local publication.

 I guess we should add some historical context for those listening from outside South Australia. If you think of early Australia as a place built by convicts, South Australia breaks that pattern completely.

The colony of South Australia was founded in a very different way. In the early 1800s, a British thinker named Edward Gibbon Wakefield came up with a bold idea: instead of sending prisoners, why not create a carefully planned colony of free settlers? Land would be sold to fund the journey, attracting workers, families, and investors.

That idea became reality in 1836. The first official group of settlers arrived, and the colony was proclaimed at Glenelg by Governor John Hindmarsh. Today, that moment is remembered every year as Proclamation Day. Turning that vision into a real, working colony depended heavily on one man: Colonel William Light.

Light was tasked with choosing the site of the capital and designing it from scratch. After exploring the region, he selected the location for Adelaide—a decision that wasn’t without controversy at the time. Some officials disagreed with his choice, but Light stood by it. From the very beginning, this place was designed to be different. The capital, Adelaide, wasn’t just built—it was planned.  His design was ambitious: a grid of wide streets, open public squares, and parklands encircling the city. It wasn’t just practical—it reflected the ideal of a well-ordered, livable society. Today, Adelaide still follows that original plan, a lasting legacy of Light’s vision.

 Importantly, this wasn’t empty land. The region was already home to Aboriginal peoples, including the Kaurna people, who had lived on and cared for the land for thousands of years. European settlement brought major disruption to their lives and culture—something that’s now a crucial part of how this history is understood.

But the story of settlement didn’t stop in Adelaide.

Just to the north, the town of Gawler became one of the colony’s earliest rural centres. Established in 1839, it’s often called the “first country town” of South Australia. Gawler grew quickly thanks to its location near fertile land and the meeting of the Gawler and North Para Rivers.

In those early years, it became a hub for farming communities. Mills, blacksmiths, and traders set up shop, supporting settlers moving beyond Adelaide. As agriculture expanded—especially wheat and sheep farming—Gawler played an important role in feeding and supplying the young colony.

Like Adelaide, the land around Gawler was not empty. It was traditionally cared for by Aboriginal groups connected to the region, and European settlement brought significant disruption to their way of life.

By the mid-1800s, places like Gawler showed how the colony was spreading outward, transforming from a planned city into a network of towns and farming districts. While Light is best known for designing Adelaide, his surveying work helped open surrounding regions, laying the groundwork for towns like Gawler to develop. These early settlements became vital links between the city and the expanding farming districts.

As the years went on, South Australia grew through farming, mining, and migration. It became known as a “free colony,” attracting people looking for opportunity rather than serving a sentence.

So, while much of Australia’s early story is tied to convict beginnings, South Australia stands out as an experiment in planned settlement—and one that left a lasting mark on the country.

 

The first printing press in South Australia was brought by Robert Thomas. He arrived with the early settlers in 1836 and played a key role in the colony’s development by producing its first printed materials. Notably, he printed the first government orders and notices, helping establish communication in the new settlement.

Robert Thomas is also closely linked to South Australia’s first newspaper, the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, which began publication shortly after the colony was founded.

So while figures like William Light were shaping the physical layout of the colony, Thomas was helping shape how information spread—an essential part of building a functioning society. That first printing press was the Stanhope press, which was brought ashore from the Africaine in 1836. It was put inside a tent at Glenelg and used to print the first 100 copies of the Proclamation of South Australia. The press was later moved to Adelaide and played a crucial role in the early newspaper publishing industry, printing the first edition of the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register in 1837.

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According to the State Library of South Australia, the first person to publish a novel in South Australia is generally recognised to be Catherine Helen Spence with her novel, Clara Morison: A Tale of South Australia During the Gold Fever, which was published anonymously in 1854.  It is significant because It is considered the first novel written by a woman of European descent about, and in, not just South Australia, but Australia wide.

 

  Catherine Helen Spence was one of Australia’s most influential early social reformers, writers, and political thinkers. She was born in 1825 in Scotland and moved to South Australia as a child, where she spent most of her life shaping public debate and social policy.

Although Spence was a pioneering novelist in Australia, she was also known for her writing and journalism, where she explored social issues like class inequality, women’s independence, and life in colonial Australia. She was deeply involved in improving society, especially in areas like: Education, Welfare for children and the poor and Electoral reform.
Spence was also a pioneer of women’s rights. She was a leading figure in the women’s suffrage movement in Australia. In fact, she made history in 1897 by becoming the first female political candidate in Australia and one of the first women in the world to run for political office. Although she didn’t win a seat at the federal conventions, her candidacy was groundbreaking. Spence also devoted her life to working with organisations that supported disadvantaged children, helping develop systems closer to modern foster care. And in later life, she became a public speaker, from which she gained international recognition for her reform work.
Catherine Helen Spence is sometimes called the “Grand Old Woman of Australia.” Her impact is still visible today in Australia’s democratic systems and social services. She’s also featured on the Australian $5 note (1995–2001 issue), reflecting her national importance.

 

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The first Indigenous person from South Australia to publish a book is widely regarded to be David Unaipon, a Ngarrindjeri man from the Lower Murray region of South Australia. His work, Native Legends (published in 1929), along with later posthumously attributed works such as Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines, made him the earliest Indigenous Australian writer to be published in book form

David Unaipon was born in 1872 at the Point McLeay Mission in South Australia, now known as Raukkan. He was a Ngarrindjeri man, and from a young age, people noticed he was incredibly bright — especially in science, music, and language.  But his life wasn’t simple. Even though he had talent that could have taken him far, Aboriginal people at the time faced major discrimination and limited opportunities. Still, he found ways to share his knowledge.
He worked as a preacher and travelled widely across South Australia, speaking in churches and towns. But he didn’t just preach — he told stories. Stories about Aboriginal culture, law, and knowledge systems that had been passed down for generations.

And then something important happened. In the late 1920s, Unaipon began publishing written works. He wrote articles, pamphlets, and stories based on Aboriginal oral traditions. One of his best-known early booklets was “Native Legends” , That made him the first Aboriginal Australian author to publish written works in English — and one of the first to have Indigenous stories presented in book form.
But there’s a twist — and it’s not a happy one.

One of his major manuscripts, a collection of Aboriginal stories, was taken and later published under someone else’s name in 1930, without crediting him. It wasn’t until decades later that his authorship was properly recognised.
 David Unaipon was also an inventor — he patented ideas for mechanical tools, including an improved sheep-shearing device. He even explored ideas like helicopters inspired by the boomerang.

Because of his brilliance, people sometimes called him “Australia’s Leonardo da Vinci.” David Unaipon helped show that Aboriginal knowledge systems are deeply intellectual, scientific, and artistic — even when Australia wasn’t ready to listen.

He passed away in 1967, but today he is honoured on the Australian $50 note, and the David Unaipon Award supports Indigenous writers continuing his legacy. So when we talk about David Unaipon, we’re not just talking about history.

We’re talking about a man who preserved stories, challenged ideas about knowledge, and made space for future Indigenous authors.

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So, way back in our first live episode, I spoke about notable authors from Gawler, but I am going to widen that scope a little more and speak about some earlier publications that came from Gawler residents who weren’t necessarily born in this town. The first is a Catholic priest named James Farrell. He published religious pamphlets and sermons in Adelaide while he lived in Gawler in the 1840s. There were also publications from the Gawler Institute, and obviously, The Bunyip newspaper went to print in 1863.

The first book, widely regarded as the first published by a Gawler-born resident, is A History of Gawler, 1837 to 1908, in 1910, by Ephraim Henry Coombe. Coombe was a journalist, newspaper editor and member of parliament. He advocated for proportional voting, women’s suffrage and railways to country towns. Coombe was adamantly against conscription during World War I and was painted as a coward and traitor. He was prosecuted under the War Precautions Act in 1917 for using words that were ‘likely to prejudice recruiting.’ Coombe had three sons and a son-in-law on the frontlines who volunteered to go, reinforcing his argument that volunteers over conscription was the right way to reinforce the frontlines of the war. Coombe died not long after the trial in 1917 and is buried in the Williston cemetery….and if you want to know more about his story – segway to another Gawler author - local Councillor and historian Helen Hennessey and Patricia Booth, and their publication The Defiant anti-conscriptionist: the curious life of E.H. Coombe, which was published by Wakefield Press in 2022. This biography details the life of E H Coombe. A hero of the working class and many others in the community, the curious life of E.H. Coombe places Gawler and its region firmly on the map.

Despite Coombes ' efforts, one could argue that George Isaacs, who wrote under the non-de-plume A. Pendragon, was the first person published in Gawler. Isaacs was a colonial South Australian writer, journalist, and cultural figure who spent part of his active career in Gawler. His novel The Queen of the South (1858) was printed in Gawler, and this is also where he first used the pseudonym A. Pendragon. He was associated with the Gawler Institute, which was a major hub for literary and intellectual activity in the town…

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Episode 11 of Shelf-Employed: South Australia’s History Festival 2026 can be heard via this link:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5m8HW5cDeC4Ah0CXTTyIs4?si=2isuRBl1TTyWzI_CkU4uUw

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