Person:Stephen King (19)

Stephen KING (born in 1841) was the only boy in a family of eleven children.

At first he was educated privately, then sent to Canon COOMBS' school at Gawler, and later as a boarder to Dean RUSSELL's school in Adelaide, finishing up with two years at J.L. YOUNG's School.

1859 - At the age of eighteen, Stephen returned to Kingsford to work for his father.

1861-1862 - Stephen travelled in the 1861-1862 exploration party north from Adelaide through the centre of Australia to Darwin with John McDouall STUART. They were the first settlers to cross Australia from the Southern Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Stephen received one pound ($2) per week for the nine month journey plus a one hundred pound ($200) bonus on his return. This party was commissioned by the same Mr. FINNISS as described in Stephen's father's notes, with Stephen (jnr.) acting in a minor capacity. Stephen (jnr.) went through the middle and then Stephen (snr.) sailed with the stock around the coast. At the age of only 19 years 10 months, Stephen King was the second youngest member of Stuart's party. His future brother in-law John William BILLIATT was 9 months younger.

1862 - On 2 May 1862 Stuart wrote in his diary, after discovering some ponds, "These ponds I Name King's Ponds, in token of my approbation of his care of, and attention to, the horses, and his readiness and care in executing all my orders." Stephen KING had done a number of sketches on the trip and they proved to be an immensely valuable record of the expedition.

Stephen had an extensive exploration/surveying career. Some of his career included:

• in 1864-67 he joined (as a boatman & later appointed to the survey party) the party bound for the new settlement of Escape Cliffs at Adam Bay, in the Northern Territory. His father was "storekeeper and superintendent of stock", on that expedition.
• in 1868-69 he joined (as Second-class surveyor) GOYDER's survey party to Darwin Harbour
• in 1870 he was explorer and surveyor to the contractors for the northern section of the Overland telegraph line.
• in 1874 he joined the Survey Department of S.A. for twenty years Stephen KING suffered with a fever, now known to be malaria but then called the ague.

1864-1867 - In the 1864-67 expedition: On the day that his father left for Adelaide (May 1865), Stephen KING jnr joined F.H. LITCHFIELD's expedition to the head of the Adelaide River, and was put in charge of the horse party. During this journey “he was seized with fever and ague. His life was almost despaired of, and he was carried back in a litter for more than a week’s march to the depot.” Messrs F. LITCHFIELD and F. FINNIS went ahead to see whether a boat could be sent up the river to take Stephen KING jnr down, and Dr. NINNIS rode overland for two days to get to the patient. He was carried aboard the boat on a bamboo stretcher, and although Dr. NINNIS had ordered his return to Adelaide, he did not leave for another six months.

1868-1869 - In the 1868-69 expedition: On the 29th January 1869; ". . . . then calm again, and intense heat. The men slung hammocks on the decks hoping for a breeze, or slept on the bare boards. Stephen KING shivered with fever from exposure from sleeping outside, but it was nearly impossible to breathe in the heavy atmosphere of the cabins". On the 10th February 1869; ". . . . the whole camp turned out to see the first inland excursion get under way. . . . The men were about to start cheering their goodbyes when KING refused to mount and announced he was not going. He said he was engaged to survey, not explore and sleep out in the open. He had told one of the men that he was afraid of a return of his "ague," (or malaria), he had contracted on previous explorations. He had said nothing to GOYDER of the malaria, who told him curtly he was, for the time, "relieved of every kind of duty.". . . ."

1870 - Alfred GILES said in 1926: "As early as July 1870 huge preparations were made for linking Adelaide and Port Darwin by a telegraph wire right across the continent, and the magnitude of this work will scarcely be estimated by the present generation. But it should be emphasized that it was carried out in three sections, and solely financed by South Australians, in the face of immense difficulties and hardships, and that within two years. It was on the 22nd August, 1872, that the ends of the two wires were soldered at near Frew's Ironstone Pond, one of Stuart's camps, and suffice it to say that on that day South Australia touched a key and spoke to the British Empire - she had harnessed the world." Stephen returned to Adelaide in March 1870, and immediately applied for a position as surveyor and explorer with Messrs DARWENT and DALWOOD, who had contracted to build the northern section of the new overland telegraph line, which was to follow as closely as possible the route John McDouall STUART had taken in crossing the continent. The expedition left Adelaide on 20 August 1870, and Miss DOUGLAS planted the first pole in the Northern Territory a month later. In July of the following year Mr DARWENT put in a claim for a reward for discovering a payable goldfield in the Northern Territory, despite the fact that two months earlier the Government, alarmed at the delay in constructing the northern section, had cancelled his contract and placed Sir Charles TODD and Mr R.C. PATTERSON in charge.

Stephen King continued in their service and

• opened the first track for teams from Elsie Creek to the Roper River.
• constructed a jetty near Leichhardt's Bay,
• and opened up the first track with loaded teams to Daly Waters.

At this time Mr Walter RUTT and Mr R. C. BURTON were away north of Elsie Creek, and when they did not return, Stephen KING and Mr GILES were sent out with provisions and packhorses to find them, although their where­abouts were unknown. When they did find them 'it was not a moment too soon for the stock of available provisions had run out and the parties were discovered in dire straits, and driven to the necessity of killing some of their working cattle'. The Premier of South Australia, Sir Henry AYERS, chose Stephen KING 'to carry the first cable message to between the lines ... which was to be bridged by horsemen', but too many privations had taken their toll and Stephen KING was too ill to make the ride.

In 1874 he rejoined the Survey Department and a year later his first wife, Jane, of whom little seems to be known, died. There is no record of how long they were married, but she appears to have come from the Flinders Ranges, and was buried in the Blinman cemetery. The South Australian marriage and death registers do not list any such marriage or death to support that published comment.

Stephen KING and Louisa Mercy Margaret BARNES were married in December 1877. Louisa went with Stephen on his surveys, living in tents, where she gave birth to some of her nine children. The others were born in their house on Portrush Road that Stephen KING named "Calta Wurlie".

Stephen KING bought two adjacent cottages in Beulah Park, now numbered 262 and 264 Portrush Road. "Calta Wurlie", which is Aboriginal for Kingsford, is the one numbered 264. It became the family home from 1880 onwards. The other was bought for his aged father.

(Information from Grantley Hutchens)