Page:Notable South Australians.djvu/211

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
OR, COLONISTS—PAST AND PRESENT.
176

two years, purchased a vessel in Sweden, and sailed in her for "Western Australia, arriving there in June 1830. His wife, to whom he had not long been married, accompanied him, and the union proved an exceedingly happy one. In April, 1846, Mr. MacDermott arrived in Adelaide, to assume the charge of the Bank of Australasia, he having been associated with the same institution in Western Australia. It was during his administration of affairs that the "Bullion Act" was introduced, and it, in common with other measures for the public good, received his earnest support. In 1855 he was nominated for a seat in the Legislative Council, and was shortly after elected Chairman of Committees. On the dissolution of the mixed Council Mr. MacDermott was elected for the District of Flinders, in the Assembly, and in 1857 held a portfolio as Commissioner of Crown Lands. In 1859 he was appointed a Special Magistrate under the Local Court's Act, and on his retirement, after ten years' service, received the usual retiring allowance. Mr. MacDermott's long and useful career was brought to a close by his death in 1877.


Ven. Archdeacon Woodcock,

WHO died at North Adelaide, May 25, 1868, in his 60th year, was one of whom it may well be said, "He was a most worthy colonist, and a man whose whole life was imbued with the spirit of catholicity, true nobleness, and goodness." He came out under the auspices of the S.P.G., and arrived in South Australia with Mrs. Woodcock and family on May 7, 1846. He preached his first sermon in Trinity Church, and it was apparent to all who heard him that the ecclesiastics of the colony had received a valuable addition to their numbers. Prior to his arrival here he laboured for some time in New Zealand, and the East and