George Fife Angas was born into a Baptist coach-building family in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1789. From his youth he was involved in church activities, sponsoring missionaries, and establishing Sunday schools and a Seaman's Union. Angas became interested in the projected colony of South Australia due to its ethos of religious tolerance. In England at the time, Non-Conformists like Angas were not subject to equality either legally or socially. In 1835 when the new colony was on the verge of floundering due to lack of funds, Angas used his wealth to found the South Australian Company, which bought much of the unsold land at a reduced rate.

Angas and his wife came to live in South Australia in 1851, and in 1857 he was elected to the Legislative Council. He died in 1879. George Fife Angas showed great generosity through gifts to many churches and charities. However he was an austere character with a deep hostility to what he saw as the 'popery' of the Roman Catholic Church.

Angas, George Fife, 1789-1879

Angas, Rosetta

South Australian Company

Angas, George Fife. Personal papers, PRG 174

Harrison, Robert. 'A South Australian miser,' Colonial sketches, or five years in South Australia with hints to capitalists and emigrants, London: Hall, Virtue and Co., 1862

Linn, Rob. 'Angas, George Fife', Australian dictionary of evangelical biography, Sydney: Evangelical History Association, 1994

O'Neill, Sally. George Fife Angas, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1972