Notable South Australians/John Banks Shepherdson, S.M.
Gumeracha, and their families. Mr. Shepherdson thus records his first impressions of the infant colony:—"On our arrival at the 'Main,' as it was then called, Adelaide had just been laid out, and the few people living there were located in tents, reed and pisey huts, and wooden erections; Government House, occupied by Captain Hindmarsh, R.N., was of reeds. At the time of our arrival serious quarrels had taken place, the result of the divided authority between the Governor and the Resident Commissioner (Mr., afterwards Sir James Fisher) and their respective adherents, Mr. Gouger, the then Colonial Secretary, was just proceeding to England for the purpose of appealing to the Home Government for a settlement of the unhappy differences, and Mr. Randell and myself took Mr. Gouger's tent for our families, at a rental of £1 per week. In accordance with my instructions, I got up a public meeting in a temporary erection, which then did duty as Trinity Church, and the Governor at my request promised to take the chair. On the night appointed I proceeded to Government House to accompany His Excellency to the meeting, but on learning from me on our way down that Mr. Fisher, Mr. Mann, the Advocate General, and others of their friends were to take part in the proceedings, he declined to enter the place. After using all the persuasion of which I was capable, he at length gave way, adding, 'Well, as Governor, I suppose I must countenance the thing, but as Jack Hindmarsh I'll do little.' As the result of the meeting, a committee was appointed, to co-operate with me, and as soon as a temporary wooden erection on the park lands, opposite and near Trinity Church, was vacated by the Bank of South Australia, I organised a school, and we proceeded with its erection. It comprised a dwelling-house and a girls' department on one side, and a boys' department on the other. Before its completion, however, my health gave way from the intense heat and limited accommodation." Mr. Shepherdson was next appointed secretary and then manager of the South Australian Cattle Company, in which he held shares. He went to reside at the station near Echunga, in 1839, and commenced farming on his own account. In 1840 he took a farm on the Bald Hills, near Nairne, where he continued until 1847. He gave from 21s. to 25s. per bushel for his first seed wheat, and after the harvest sold it at 12s., which was of course ruinous. In after years he as well as other settlers had to dispose of their produce at 2s. 6d. per bushel, and in order to effect a sale had sometimes to take part of it out in black sugar and coarse tea. In October 1847 the Governor, Major Robe, was visiting the district, and Mr. Shepherdson was asked to take the clerkship of the Mount Barker Bench, with the promise of promotion as soon as possible; on this understanding he accepted the office, and was appointed on the 1st November in that year. In 1850, the first Local Court Act was passed, and he received the additional appointment of clerk of the Local Court. In 1858 he published a book on the "Practice of the Local Courts," which he dedicated by permission to His Excellency, Sir Richard Graves McDonnell It was favorably reviewed by the Press, and considered a useful text book for the legal profession. On March 6, 1861, Mr. Shepherdson was made a Justice of the Peace, and appointed a Special and Stipendiary Magistrate at Wallaroo. The other offices he has held or now holds are:—Commissioner for taking Affidavits in the Supreme Court; a Commissioner for taking the Acknowledgements of Married Women; Visiting Justice of the Wallaroo Gaol; Chairman of the Auxiliary Destitute Board at Wallaroo; Acting Commissioner of the Moonta Insolvency Court, in addition to being Special Magistrate of the Local Courts of Wallaroo, Kadina, Moonta, Port Wakefield, Balaklava, and Snowtown; Returning Officer of the Electoral District of Wallaroo, and Chairman of the Peninsula Licensing Bench. At his advanced age it is really wonderful that he can so creditably fill these multifarious offices. Mr. Shepherdson has been twice married, and has a large family; among his descendants are sixty grandchildren, and six great grand children.