House of Assembly
What position did George Strickland Kingston take in Mar 1857?
George Strickland Kingston Sir George Strickland Kingston ( 23 August 1807 – 26 November 1880 ) arrived in South Australia on the in 1836 . He was the Deputy Surveyor to William Light , engaged to survey the new colony of South Australia . Kingston was also the first Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly . Early life . Kingston was born in Bandon , County Cork , Ireland , one of five children of George Kingston and Hester Holland . Stricklands father owned a lumberyard , a tenement ( Kingston Buildings ) , and was credited with being involved in the three canal plans for Bandon . Strickland emigrated to England and was employed in Birmingham in 1832 . He subsequently took an active part in promoting the South Australian Act in 1834 and helped to lobby successfully for its passage through the House of Commons . Deputy Surveyor , South Australia Colony . Kingston was appointed deputy surveyor to the new province and sailed with most of the surveying party in the Cygnet in March 1836 . Because he detoured to Rio de Janeiro for supplies the Cygnet did not arrive at Nepean Bay until 11 September 1836 , nearly a month after Colonel William Light , who was therefore left short-handed at a critical time . However it was Kingston , John Morphett and Lieutenant W.G . Field who found the River Torrens . Kingstons ability as a surveyor was frequently questioned and his lack of qualifications and blunders in the survey of Adelaide caused Light to have some of his work re-surveyed by Assistant Surveyors Boyle Travers Finniss and George Owen Ormsby . Completion of the survey of the city was delayed for a fortnight because of his mistakes . However it was he who was spared to return to England in August 1837 to ask for reinforcements for the Survey Department . The colonisation commissioners sent him back next June with orders unpalatable to Light , who resigned with all but three of his staff . Kingston resigned soon after Governor George Gawlers arrival in October 1838 and Ormsby , one of the best , if not the very best , on the staff of Col . Light , was put in temporary charge of the survey , with directions to proceed with the utmost despatch . Later career . Kingston established himself as a civil engineer , architect and surveyor , and in 1840 the Adelaide Municipal Council briefly engaged him as town surveyor . He was later engaged as inspector of public works and , buildings . Among his works still standing are the south-eastern corner of Government House ( 1839 ) , the original section of the Adelaide Gaol ( 1840 ) , Cummins House at Camden Park ( 1841 ) and Kingston Historical House ( 1840 , 1851 ) . He also designed the first monument to Colonel Light in Light Square ( 1843 ) . He designed Whites Rooms , Adelaides first public entertainment venue . On 10 July 1851 , Kingston was sworn in as a member of South Australias first elected parliament and held his seat in the Legislative Council until 2 February 1857 . On 9 March 1857 , Kingston was elected to the newly established House of Assembly and became the first Speaker on 22 April 1857 . Kingston held this position until 22 March 1860 and again from 31 March 1865 until his death on 26 November 1880 . Kingston represented The Burra and Clare from 9 March 1857 to 22 March 1860 and Stanley from 6 May 1861 until his death . Kingston was prominent in forming the South Australian Mining Association to keep the mineral wealth of the colony from overseas speculators . With Edward Stephens , he investigated copper finds at Burra in 1845 , and then played a leading role in the snobs party to defeat the nobs for the mine . An original shareholder , he was appointed surveyor and architect of the mining association but it was William Jacob who carried out the Burra special survey of 20,000 acres ( 8094 ha ) . In April 1848 he was elected a director , deputy-chairman in October 1856 and chairman from 1857 until his death . In its first five years the monster mine paid fifteen dividends each of 200 per cent . In 1858 Kingston was part of the team who surveyed the namesake town of Kingston , later renamed Kingston SE as a part of a private real estate development . Other Interests . Kingston was interested in the Volunteer movement and was once captain of the East Adelaide Rifles . He was also a founding member and later Master of The South Australian Lodge of Friendship and of the Statistical Society , keeping a valuable register of Adelaides rainfall from 1839–1879 . Kingston was also one of the founding members of the Freemasons South Australian Lodge of Friendship No . 613 ( under a Warrant or Charter of Constitution which was issued at Adelphi , London , England on 22 October 1834 ) . The original Lodge to which Kingston belonged was Irish Lodge No 81 . Kingston was the first Senior Warden of the new South Australian Lodge and on 14 August 1838 , Kingston was elected Master . He was a member of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society and its president from 1859 to 1860 . Kingston was knighted in 1870 . He died in 1880 aboard the RMS Malwa on his way to India and was buried at sea . Personal life . Kingston married three times , being widowed in his first two marriages . He married his first wife Henrietta Ann McDonough in 1829 ; she died ten years later and their only child died soon after childbirth . Six children were born to his second wife , Ludovina Catherina da Silva Cameron ( daughter of soldier Charles Cameron ( 1779–1827 ) ) , after their marriage on 10 April 1841 . She died ten years later and Kingston married widow Emma Lipson ( 1816–1876 ) , daughter of Thomas Lipson R.N. , South Australias first harbourmaster , on 4 December 1856 ( no children resulted from this marriage ) . - His youngest daughter , Charlotte Julian Kingston ( 11 September 1845 – 20 May 1913 ) married Hubert Giles ( 21 October 1842 – 11 August 1901 ) , son of William Giles , on 17 March 1880 . - Strickland Gough Pat Kingston ( 1848–1897 ) married Kathleen Pittar Stanton in 1879 . In 1894 she founded Yoothamurra School in Glenelg . - His youngest son , Charles Cameron Kingston ( 22 October 1850 – 11 May 1908 ) was Premier of South Australia from 1893 to 1899 . Memorials . Kingstons name has been applied to the following places in South Australia - Hundred of Kingston , Mount Kingston near Lake Eyre , Kingston Park ( a suburb of Adelaide ) and the township of Kingston SE . The township of Kingston-on-Murray was named after his son , Sir Charles Cameron Kingston . List of buildings attributed to Sir George Strickland Kingston . - Ayers House , Adelaide - Old Adelaide Gaol , Adelaide - Original Treasury Building , Victoria Square , Adelaide - Government House , Adelaide - Customs House , Glenelg - Cummins House , 23 Sheoak Avenue , Novar Gardens , South Australia - Colonel William Light Monument , Light Square , Adelaide ( demolished 1905 ) - Kingston Historical House , Brighton - Residential Cottage Home , 3 Market Street , Burra Further reading . - Langmead , Donald George Strickland Kingston : Pioneer and Architect , PhD thesis , Flinders University , 1983 ( More comprehensive than Accidental Architect , below. ) - Langmead , Donald Accidental Architect : the Life and Times of George Strickland Kingston , Darlinghurst ; Crossing Press , 1994 - Sansom , P History of the First Fifty Years of the South Australian Lodge of Friendship from 1834 to 1884 , Adelaide , 1886