Shelf-Employed: The Indie Publishing Podcast 

– Transc

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

[Transcript Begins]

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.

{DEB}

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.

 

{ALLEN}

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.

{ALLEN}

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…

 [End Transcript]

 

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

Or via @Apple Podcasts @Amazon Music @Substackinc @Simplecast or @iHeartRadio

Hidden Secrets - Dead Mans Pass - Gawler

Hidden Secrets – ‘Dead Man’s Pass – Gawler’

<Transcript>  Before European settlement, Dead Man’s Pass and the Gawler region was the home to the indigenous Kaurna Peoples.

Known originally to European settlers as The Para Pass, the river crossing was first used circa 1836. Colonel William Light is recorded as having stayed at a camp near the pass in 1837, while exploring the Barossa Valley region and attempting to find passage through the Mount Lofty Ranges towards the Murray River.

  The crossing got its name after an exploration party returning from the Barossa ranges came across an exhausted traveller, whom they offered respite too. Once stopped at the crossing they checked on their new companion who had fallen asleep in the back of their dray, only to find him dead.

 Having no tools with which to dig a grave, they placed his body upright in a hollow tree and covered it as best they could with sticks and branches.

Not long after, another travelling party happened across the gruesome site, and, after taking samples of the gentleman’s clothing, encased him with clay in the tree. The name “Dead Man’s Pass” was adopted circa 1842 as the permanent name of the South Para River ford, in honour of the dead man found in the hollow coffin tree.

There are many different accounts of the finding of the dead man. No one is certain which account is true. Perhaps there is a little truth to be found within each version of the story.

 Dr George Nott wrote of finding the dead man in 1860 in his book: Short Sketch of the Rise of Progress of Gawler.

 In his diary Colonel Light wrote: “13th January 1839. Returned to the Para. We halted here the rest of the day. Having heard of a dead body being there under an old tree, we examined the spot and found it. There is a mystery in this affair as it had been kept a secret. The skull is large, and the flesh almost entirely gone. Part of his dress remained. His trousers of corduroy seemed good as far as his knees - under those much torn. His short on one part contained much coagulated blood. The body was covered over again and some of his clothes packed up and conveyed to Adelaide.”

 In the book “The Story of Dead Man’s Pass” The Honourable B.T. Finnis of Gawler wrote a story with a slight variation to Colonel Light’s.

“Travelling with Colonel Light on one occasion before the selection of the Gawler Survey, we camped at the Gawler River and whilst resting there we were surprised to find a dead man buried in an upright position and plastered with clay. No part of his body was visible except the toes. The
wild dogs had evidently discovered the corpse and had somewhat mangled the feet. It was evidently a white man’s burial place from the clothes. The story that was circulated in Adelaide as to the cause of the death of this unfortunate man originated with a party under the charge of
Mr Bernhard. It was stated that travelling to the north, having a dray with them, on nearing the ford of the Gawler River, a man in a distressed state rushed from the scrub west of the line of the road and fell down in an exhausted state, perishing for want of food and water. He was taken
every care of, but died very soon after meeting this party, which precede ours on the way north. They had buried him in this tree and plastered him in to save his body from the wild dogs. We afterwards called this tree
“Dead Man’s Tree,” a large hollow gum tree. The dead man was supposed to have been a sailor, escaped from some ship off Port Gawler, who had lost himself in the scrub in his endeavour to reach Adelaide, and thus perished miserably.”

In yet another variation, The Southern Australian newspaper on the 16^th of January 1839 published an article titled “Suspicious case”. Which read;
“The body of a man, buried some time ago in the bush to
the northward, was exhumed last week by Colonel Light and Mr Finniss whilst
those gentlemen were out on their surveying expedition, and it was found that
the shirt, vest and trousers of the deceased were stained with blood, and his
pockets were turned inside out. The clothes were brought to Adelaide for
examination by the authorities and we hope a strict investigation into the affair
will be held. At the time of the reported death of this man in the bush, many
months ago, no inquest was held, as there ought to have been, and we trust the
coroner will not be allowed to neglect his duty.”

Dead Man’s Pass became a much-used crossing into the main street of Gawler as the only roadway for bullock drays and horse and carts. The ford crossing became a secondary way into town once a new bridge was built in the 1860’s on the Adelaide Road.

 In 1869, Gawler Council surveyed a new roadway at Dead Man’s Pass. Council workers began constructing the new road and came upon a skull and bones. Examining further, they found an almost complete skeleton. The bones were taken to office of James Martin and examined by Doctor Nott. Dr Nott concluded that they were the bones of a very tall European man owing to the size of the thigh bones.
 It is thought the bones were those of the man buried in the base of a tree some 30 years prior. The unknown man’s remains were interred in an unmarked grave in the newly formed Gawler Cemetery, now known as Pioneer Park.

In May 1890, a footbridge was installed at Dead Man’s Pass, erected by Mr T White.

In 1901, Patrick Condon, a Gawler Corporation employee had a fatal accident when his night cart flipped when it fell down an embankment, and landed on him, killing him.

Also, in 1901, a young crippled boy was found dead in Black Hole billabong at Dead Man’s Pass. Anton Johann Link's clothing were found on the banks of the billabong by another young lad, who went to search for him, only to find Anton floating in the water, dead.

In 1914, Mr S. Fotheringham held the town of Gawler to ransom. The Dead Man’s Pass footbridge crossed the river onto his land. He offered to sell the portion of land to the council for 50 pounds, or that they pay him 8 pounds a year in rent. Both the East and West Munno Para District Councils (The Two Councils governing Gawler at the time.) agreed to buy the land, but ultimately the East Munno Para Council refused. Fotheringham, in response to the refusal, fenced his end of the walkway bridge with barbed wire, and threatened to cut down the tree on his property that the bridge was suspended from. In April the same year, an agreement was made with Mr Fotheringham, and the bridge reopened.

Floods in 1917 extensively damaged the footbridge, with water being recorded as being as high as Ayers Road and reaching the buildings of the former gasworks

In 1923, raging flood water washed the old footbridge away…the bridge was repaired in 1924 and stood in place until the early 1980s when it was finally removed for public safety

In 1952, The Advertiser reported that Ernest L.B. Potter of Croydon, recollected that when he was 10 years old, his uncle Edward Potter, a geologist, uncovered a large skull while digging a hole for an underground water tank. The skull was found to be that of a Diprotodon which is from the Pleistocene Epoch of Australia. Diprotodon Optatum became extinct about 25, 000 years ago and was known to exist while indigenous populations were in the area. These animals grew up to 3.8 meters long from head to tail and stood about 1.7 meters tall at the shoulder.
 Its closest relations today are the wombat and the koala.

There are many stories of paranormal encounters at Dead Man’s Pass. If one cares to visit the “Ghost village” website, one can read the story of a young man and his mate who were riding their bikes down first street. They were going too fast, and one kept hearing a voice in his ear say, “go right!” indicating to turn right into Gawler Terrace.
 The boy didn’t have much time to make a choice, if he swept left around the dead man’s pass bend he would go into oncoming traffic, if he managed to turn right, he wouldn’t make the turn.
 Going against his instincts, he turned right, and ploughed straight into the curb, flying through the air, and hitting a massive gum tree.
 He lay there stunned.  He looked up and saw two figures standing over him. A man and woman. The man said, "You're lucky to be alive, lad," and the Lady said, "Take heed, boy, you only get one chance like this!"…

The boys mate came over to see if he was ok. Laying on the ground, without a scratch on him, he asked his mate where the old people had gone. His mate replied that he hadn’t seen anyone, but he had heard his friend talking to someone. He then said he had watched him fly through the air, over 33 feet of gravel, and then land, almost softly on the big gum tree.

 The land at Dead Man’s Pass has previously been owned by the Pile Family, and from 1907, the Riggs Family, who allowed the Gawler Three Day horse Events to run across their land. In 1978, Gawler Council purchased 20 Acres of Dead Man’s Pass and designated it a reserve.

Today Dead man’s pass is a beautifully kept park with walking, cycling and nature trails. It is home to many native birds and animals and is easily accessed and explored.

Thank you for watching Hidden Secrets. <End Transcript>

Researched, filmed, edited and produced by Allen Tiller.

© 2020 Allen Tiller.

Resources used in research:

Gawler History Team - www.GawlerHistory.com

Anne Richards, Reference and Research
Librarian Number 8 in a Series of Historical Pamphlets produced by Gawler Public Library
© 2007 Gawler Public Library

National Library of Australia

Trove

State Library of South Australia

Australian Museum

South Australian Museum

Ghost Village - https://www.ghostvillage.com/encounters/2006/10022006.shtml

Pioneer Park: The Ghosts of Gawler: Part Five

The Ghosts of Gawler Part Five:
Pioneer Park 

At the northern end of Gawler's main street, across the road from the Coles complex, is a very pretty park featuring a rotunda and a memorial garden, it is bordered on one side by a shed owned by the Exchange Hotel and the Gawler Tourist Centre.

The "Old Cemetery"

The park has been a meeting place for Gawlerites for decades, being used annually for local events, outings and picnics.

Having grown up in Gawler, I know the park and the stories associated it with very well. I can remember when a canon used to stand on the north-west facade and was fired during an annual street party, I remember all the youth of the town meeting on the hill during weekends, because there really wasn't much else to do in the town, most of those kids were totally unaware of the bodies buried beneath their feet, but not me, I knew better.

The cemetery was first established when the town plan was drawn by Colonel Light, it is not entirely clear who the first person buried was, but by 1870, the cemetery was closed except for those who had already bought a plot to buried in.

The cemetery sat at the top of the street, pretty much unused, as the bigger Willaston public cemetery had been opened and was being used, as well as the Anglican cemetery in Gawler East and the Loos cemetery in what is now Buchefelde.

It wasn't until the late 1920s that someone decided something should be done with the now decrepit cemetery who's headstones were cracked and falling over, whose fences were broken and unpainted, the “old cemetery” as it was now referred to, was in a state of very bad disrepair.

A Rotunda on the park in 1914

The first idea to clean the place up came in 1925, but it took ten more years before anything was actually done by the councillors.

Work began, the fences were removed, the headstones were taken down (and now sit inside the front gates of the Willaston cemetery), land was levelled, trees planted, garden beds were laid, and a rotunda was built, the name was changed from the much-used “Old Cemetery” to “Pioneer Place” and Gawler's most used green square was born.

Now one would not know a cemetery stood there, other than the large monument on the western side dedicated to John McKinlay, which had to be rebuilt due to a semi-trailer demolishing one side of it. The other clue to a cemetery once being here is the memorial stones with lists of names in the centre of the gardens.

 In the late 1990sa worker was in the shed of the Exchange Hotel next to the park, when two coffins slid through the cracked and broken wall into the shed from the old cemetery, you can imagine the gossip this caused in the town!

The McKinlay monument after being hit by a truck

I have heard many ghost stories associated with the place over the years, even back in the day when it was a cemetery there were stories, one of which was a sighting of Spring-heeled Stephen, but mostly they were the typical ghost stories, ladies with lamps, gentlemen standing in the shadows etc.

One of the more recent stories I have heard is a man in an older styled suit standing looking out towards the Coles complex, who simply disappears. I am sure there are many more stories that I am yet to hear, and I invite you to share them in the comments section below

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au