The Builder. ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 49 commendations of the people, and many of those who had previous!)' oppos('d him b(;came his supporters. A public meeting, held in Adelaide, carried by an overwhelming vote a motion in favor of the plan of survey pursued by him, but nothing would induce him to withdraw his resignation. The Commissioners recorded that when he received his new- instructions '"his energies were enfeebled by disease, and his mind in a state of nervous irritability from the harassing and vexatious opposition which he had to encounter from the quarter whence he had a right to expect the most willing encouragement." No reflection was therefore cast upon his ability or his work, and even the Commissioners were well aware that the gallant officer filled a most unpleasant and an onerous position. His acceptance of the new instructions would have been tantamount to a confession of weakness and inability. Colonel Light did not long survive. He was already in the incipient stages of consumption, and his vexations, and, also, no doubt, the feeling that his public services had not received their due reward, tended to hasten the progress of his malady to a fatal issue. He became associated with a land agency firm under the style of Light, Finniss, and Co., and undertook the survey of Port Adelaide, a work which he; was not able to complete. He gradually sank, and on October 5, 1839, died at the age of 54 years. When on his deathbed he pathetically and anxiously asked to be acknowledged as the founder of Adelaide, and requested that a copper plate, bearing an inscription to that effect, should be laid by his side on the coffin. This simple and fair request was obeyed; and it was a tardy and modest enough recognition. His funeral was largely attended ; public sympathy being all the greater because it was generally considered that he came to an untimely end mainly through the indignities he had endured. He was buried in Light Square, where an obelisk to his memory was erected, bearing the inscription : — ERKCTKl) liV The Pioneers of South Austr.mja, ix memory of COEONEL WiELEXM LlCIfr, First Surveyor - Gen er.m., . i) by vhom The Site of AoEEAinE v.s fixed on the 29TII of DECEMIiER, 1836. Died 5TII of OuTOHER, 1839, Monument to Memorv of Colonel Light AoEi) 54 Ye.rs. Erected by the Pioneers of South Australia Apart from this mute public acknowledgment of his splendid services, many historians have borne corresponding testimony. Mr. J. W. Bull, a pioneer of 1839,
