Portrait of B. Hack from Panana from the S.A. Northern Pioneers' composite, 1850-1859 (shown in position on B 6912/1).

Born 10 August 1835 a son of John Barton Hack, Bedford Hack arrived with his family in 1837. His father established a property at Echunga in the Adelaide Hills.

Bedford Hack is recorded as a joint lease holder in 1861 with Henry Dean and Sir Thomas Elder of the Lake Hope and Manuwaukaninna stations. Despite large stock holdings (21,000 sheep are recorded as being shorn in one season) the stations were unprofitable with Dean and Hack earning little more than their own livelihoods. The two stations were amalgamated in 1872 into Elder's Beltana property. Hack entered the Surveyor-General's department in 1873 where he was employed as a ranger and in 1878 he was appointed Warden of gold fields. These positions involved a good deal of travel around the state and he acquired a useful insight into the capabilities of the country. This lead to his appointment as Government Arbitrator in the 1888 leases. In July 1889 he was appointed Manager of the Sewage Farm which he ran successfully, and made it a profitable business.

 He retired from government service in 1908 and died in April 1912.

Hack, Bedford, 1835-1912

Hack Family

Isabella (ship)

Cockburn, R Pastoral pioneers of South Australia 2 v. Adelaide : Publishers Limited, 1925-1927 ("Reprinted from the Adelaide Stock and Station Journal.") vol. 2 pp. 174-75 contains some information on Hack

Mr. Bedford Hack Public service review : South Australia, vol. 14, no. 6 (June 1908), p. 71-72

Papers of the Hack Family PRG 456

John Barton Hack and Family B 7759/1