Title: George Fife Angas: Father and Pioneer of South Australia
Author: Edwin Hodder
Year: (1891) 2007
ISBN: 9781920978525
Publisher: Archive Digital Books Australasia
Item Code: AU5024
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There is no doubt that George Fife Angas was instrumental in South Australia’s pioneering history, you only need to Google his name to discover how much has been written about him.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, in Northumberland, England in 1789, George Fife Angas was the youngest of seven children and at the age of 15 became an apprentice coachbuilder for his father, Caleb Angas. After that George added merchant, banker, landowner, politician and a philanthropist to his repertoire, and was obviously a upstanding member in Adelaide’s society.
To quote from the author’s preface:
“He was one of the Fathers and Founders of South Australia; he originated the South Australian Company, the Bank of South Australia, the National Provincial Bank of England, and the Union Bank of Australia; he fought the battle of the slaves in Honduras and the Mosquito Coast, and obtained an Act of Parliament for their emancipation; he circumvented a reigning monarch and stayed a despotic religious persecution; his foresight and shrewdness won for Great Britain the possession of New Zealand as a colony …”
“He realised a large fortune, lost it in pure philanthropy, and, after years of poverty and distress, regained it fourfold through the reckless land purchases of an adventurer; he established the first Sunday School Union in the North of England, was one of the founders of the British and Foreign Sailors’ Society and other well-known institutions, and was … one of the leading philanthropists of this country.”
“Whatever place Mr Angas may take in the annals of this country, his name will be an abiding monument in South Australia; and when the history of that colony is written, it will be found, that he must occupy a very prominent position in its records”.
Written by Edwin Hodder in 1891 which was 12 years after the death of George Fife Angas, the author’s aim when writing this biography was to “present the man that could achieve so much”. During writing he worked closely with the Angas family, and gave him access to much information otherwise unattainable.
High quality scanned images of the whole of the original book. This publication has been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
