Views across the plains of Adelaide, with an oxen-drawn cart loaded with hay in the foreground, and the Adelaide Hills in the distance.

A typical rural scene of the Adeladie Plains with the Adelaide Hills in the background. The Adelaide Plains is the area in South Australia between the Mount Lofty Ranges on the east and Gulf Saint Vincent on the west. The plains are generally fertile with annual rainfall of about 460 mm (18 in) per year.

Alexander Charles Kelly was born at Leith, Scotland in 1811. He was awarded a medical degree by Edinburgh University in 1832. Kelly acted as a surgeon on the East India Company's ships in 1833. He emigrated to South Australia aboard the Baboo in 1840 and began a medical practice at Port Adelaide. A year later, he was appointed assistant surgeon at Adelaide Hospital.

He subsequently bought land at Morphett Vale in 1842 and named the property 'Trinity'. In 1845, Kelly began planting vines on his property, and became a partner in Tintara Vineyard Company in 1862. Kelly was married in 1854 to Annie Worthington (1826-1912). He sold his Trinity vineyard and began planting vines for Tintara at Willunga in 1863. Tintara went into voluntary liquidation in the 1870s. Kelly retired in 1876 and died in 1877.

Kelly, Alex C., 1811-1877

Bagot, W. H. Some nineteenth century Adelaide architects Adelaide: Pioneers' Association of South Australia, 1958

Morgan, E. J. R. Early Adelaide architecture 1836 to 1886 Melbourne, New York, Oxford University Press [1969]

Heritage of the city of Adelaide: an illustrated guide edited by Susan Marsden, Paul Stark and Patricia Sumerling Adelaide: Corporation of the City of Adelaide, 1990

D. Hall and V. Hankel, introduction to A. C. Kelly, Wine-Growing in Australia Sydney: David Ell Press, 1980

Kelly papers (PRG 628, State Library of South Australia).

Australian dictionary of biography onlinesee: Kelly, Alexander Charles 1811-1877