ONE NATION (SA DIVISION) ACKNOWLEDGES

THESE PEOPLE WHO HELPED MAKE SOUTH AUSTRALIA GREAT.

William Light (1786-1839)

Soldier and surveyor born in Kuala Kedah, Malaya. In 1836, Light was appointed Surveyor-General of the proposed colony of South Australia. He was expected within two months to examine minutely 2414km of coastline, select a location for the first settlement, survey the town site, divide 388sq km of country into sections and make allowance for secondary towns. His choice of the site for Adelaide, although fiercely opposed by Governor John Hindmarsh, was endorsed at a public meeting of colonists, and his symmetrical layout with squares and a belt of parklands has since been lauded by posterity. He died from tuberculosis and was buried in the city square named after him.

Manufacturer, born in Sydney, Ling with his brother-in-law Lance Hill introduced the Hills hoist to Australian backyards. Neighbours at Glenunga, where Hill had built a rotary clothes line for his wife, they formed a partnership in 1946, rented a small factory at Fullarton and expanded production. The firm boosted the popularity of rotary clothes lines by introducing a lever-action model that was one-third cheaper than existing types. By 1954 the company had branches throughout Australia; by 1959 there were outlets in New Zealand and Britain.

Melbourne-born MacKillop founded The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart at Penola in 1866. With MacKillop as Mother Superior, the sisters were to live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children. The Sisterhood spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and increased rapidly in membership. MacKillop was beatified in 1995 and her canonisation as a saint is still being contemplated by the Vatican.

Geologist and explorer, born in Yorkshire, England, and renowned for his exploits in Antarctica in the early 1900s. The first Australian expedition in 1911-13, led by Mawson, established his reputation as a survival saga hero. Losing his two companions to accident and starvation, Mawson hauled himself out of crevasses and struggled back to base at Commonwealth Bay where he wintered alone in a hut dubbed "Home of the Blizzard". His later charting of the coast established Australian sovereignty in Antarctica. As professor of geology at the University of Adelaide, he collected rock specimens from the region now known as Radium Hill, the first major radioactive ore body discovered in Australia.

Physicist and state Governor, born near Adelaide and educated at state schools and the University of Adelaide, Oliphant's research into nuclear fission contributed to the development of the first atomic bomb in World War II. Horrified at the outcome, he condemned the use of nuclear weapons and became a vocal pacifist. Appointed SA Governor in 1971, he was outspoken on political, religious and environmental issues.

Orchardist and politician, Playford was SA's longest-serving premier (1938-65). His greatest achievements were industrial and developmental, such as low-cost housing at Elizabeth, the establishment of Whyalla, opening the Leigh Creek coalfield, piping River Murray water to semi-arid country, centralising the state's power supply and the encouragement of manufacturing.

Miller, inventor and preacher, English-born Ridley migrated to SA in 1839 and within four years had devised the stripper harvester that reaped and threshed wheat in one series of mechanical actions. In 1844 he was awarded a special prize by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society and in 1858 he was formally thanked by the South Australian parliament for helping to create a vast increase of wheat-growing in the province.

Explorer, soldier and public servant, born in India, Sturt is best known for being the first to chart the Murray River. Inspired by Aboriginal reports of a major inland river, he and his seven crew set off down the Murrumbidgee in a whaleboat and were swept into the River Murray, named by Sturt. The party endured months of poor diet, sunstroke, capsizings and threats by the local Aborigines. Exhausted but unable to escape the sand-blocked river mouth, they had to row back upstream. His report of the expedition helped to encourage the choice of SA for a new settlement. Moving to Adelaide in 1838 and building a house at Grange, Sturt was appointed Surveyor-General to replace William Light.

Doris Irene Taylor (1901-1968)

Founder of Meals on Wheels, born at Norwood, Taylor's suffered a spinal injury in a fall as a girl and was permanently paralysed and confined to a wheelchair. Campaigning for improved social services for the aged, the infirm and the vulnerable, Taylor founded Meals on Wheels and the first kitchen opened at Port Adelaide in 1954. As secretary of the West Norwood sub-branch of the Australian Labor Party, she was credited with persuading Don Dunstan to join the party and to seek pre-selection in 1952. She managed his first election campaign.

Nobel Prize winning medical scientist, born at Malvern, Florey developed penicillin as an antibacterial agent, inaugurating the antibiotic era. The clinical trials in the early 1940s were so dramatic that penicillin was considered to be almost miraculous. Florey was co-winner of Nobel prize for physiology and medicine in 1945.

Presbyterian minister, born in Victoria, Flynn was the founder and superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission, based at Oodnadatta, and what later became the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Ahead of his time in creating a network of support and medical care for inland Australia, especially for women and children, he was also outspoken on the plight of Aborigines.

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