Interior of settler's hut.

Illustration of the typical basic accommodation found in a settler's huts during the Foundation era, by colonial artist S.T. Gill.

An extract from the diary of Mary Thomas (junior), daughter of early colonists and newspaper printers, Mary and Robert Thomas, gives an insight into early settler life and accommodations;

Aug., 1839: We are obliged to print the proclamations at Glenelg in a rush hut that had been built for a bedroom for the use of my sisters and myself. Mama, my sisters and myself came to live in Adelaide on the 1^st of June, 1837. Our rush printing hut was just taken possession of by some natives, who had an encampment just above us. My father and brothers were generally in Adelaide about this time, but two gentlemen of the names of Skipper and Powys resided with us in the day time.... We once more took to living in a tent and continued to do so until September [1837], when we began to occupy some apartments adjoining the printing office, having lived in tents and reed huts from November 1836 till September 1837. Our first week in Australia was passed in a tent formed by a piece of canvas thrown across some poles, and the back filled in by green boughs. The second place we had was a large marquee - very comfortable - where we passed Christmas Day. The printing office was built of reeds (from the lagoons) and pine poles, tied together by yarn....PRG 1160/6

S.T. Gill was one of the most prolific water-colour painters working in Australia in the nineteenth century. He illustrated numerous scenes in the Adelaide Hills and Flinders Ranges, and sketched a variety of townscapes in Adelaide and its port. Gill was well recognised as the 'artist of the gold fields'.

Gill, Samuel Thomas (1818 - 1880)

Appleyard, Ron S.T. Gill, the South Australian years 1839-1852 Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia, 1986

Bowden, Keith Macrae Samuel Thomas Gill: artist [Collaroy, N.S.W.] : K.M. Bowden, [1971]

Page, Michael F. Colonial South Australia: its people and buildings / text by Michael Page ; illustrations by Robert Ingpen. South Melbourne : J.M. Dent, 1985

Kwan, Elizabeth Living in South Australia: a social history Netley, S. Aust.: South Australian Government Printer, 1987

Duncan, Beth Mary Thomas : founding mother : the life and times of a South Australian pioneer Kent Town, S. Aust. : Wakefield Press, 2007

Hope, Penelope. Voyage of the Africaine: a collection of journals, letters and extracts from contemporary publications South Yarra, Vic.: Heinemann Educational Australia, 1968

National Library of Australia

National Library of Australia, Pictures Collection

Samuel Thomas (S.T.) Gill Interior of a Settler's Hut, 1845 wash drawing; 11.2 x 19.7 cm

SA Memory, Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (newspaper)

SA Memory, Foundation of South Australia 1800-1851 Diary of Mary Thomas (Senior) PRG 1160/1

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Editionsee: Gill, Samuel Thomas (1818 - 1880)

Atlas of South Australia 1986see: The course of settlement