GEORGE MAWBEY UNPOPULAR?

On 15 November 1839, George Mawbey made a public announcement in a newspaper that he had sub-let the premises of his Refreshment Rooms in Rundle Street, Adelaide.
A new business was opening there, the Grieve & Campbell General Store.
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On Wednesday 27 November 1839, the new proprietors ran a newspaper advertisement for an opening special - cheap bread.
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On Saturday 30 November 1839, the local newspaper published a long list of people invited to a public entertainment on Christmas Eve held as a tribute to the new Governor, Sir William Gawler.
On it were Rundle Street retailers, John Stuckey and Grieve Campbell, but not George Mawbey.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, Saturday 1 June 1839
The brig Nereus sails for South Australia to-morrow morning under the command of Capt. Tavenor, late chief officer of the Bardaster.
Her passengers are (cabin) - Messrs. Elliott and Roberts, Mrs. Harvey and child, Mrs. Mawbey, and Mrs. Denham.
Steerage-Patrick Lahiff, Donald Sutherland, Charles Macarthur, Richard Hamilton, David Anderson, John O'Brien, William Roberts, Mrs. Weatherhead and 3 children.
[Source:http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2540896]

EARLY SA SHIPPING & PASSENGER LISTS

Just found a very good website of the State Library of South Australia that lists all the ships and passengers arriving at Port Adelaide from 1839-45.
As a result of stumbling across this, I think I've finally found out how and when my great great grandfather, George Mawbey, arrived in the new province.
A name that sounds like his is on the manifest of the Nereus that sailed from Sydney and arrived in Adelaide on 27 January 1839.
The name given is 'Mr G Morley', but it is possible that it was written phonetically, not the correct spelling.
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When Geo. Mawbey's wife, Ann, was planning to sail from Sydney to join him, she too was booked to travel on the Nereus.
But bad weather forced the vessel to turn back, and she subsequently sailed on the Abercrombie.
I'll see if a 'Morley' appears in any South Australian newspaper articles or directories at that time.
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The link to this Pioneers and Settlers of South Australia website is StateLibSA-ShippingRecords.

UNCLAIMED LETTERS

Throughout July 1841, the General Post Office, Adelaide placed advertisements in the Southern Australian newspaper for its list of unclaimed letters. George Mawbey's name was on this list.
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In January 1843, another Adelaide Post Office list of unclaimed letters was published in the South Australian Gazette.
A Duncan Mawbey was on this list.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA A PLANNED COLONY

Last night during a clean-up at home I found my old social studies textbook from when I was in 6th class at primary school.
Yep! That's right. I've been hanging on to it since 1959!
It's title is Social Studies for Sixth Grade by G T Spaull, MA, William Brooks & Co Limited, The Educational Publishers of Australia, Waterloo [Sydney] and Brisbane.
Oddly enough, it bears no date of publication, but the preface says it had been written in conjunction with the 1952 curriculum of the Education Department of New South Wales.
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Why I am mentioning it here is that it has a piece on George Fife Angas, claiming him to be the 'Founder of South Australia'.
I don't recall ever hearing of him before, but according to my old school textbook, he was a Scottish merchant and philanthropist, based in London, who wanted to establish a colony in Australia for the British poor and unemployed.
He wanted to do this in South Australia, but in 1834, the British Government beat him to it.
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The colony it set up was run by a Governor assisted by a group of Commissioners who were expected to find the money to make the venture a success.
According to my textbook, they failed to do this, and that through bad government, the colony became bankrupt.
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In 1836, Fife Angas formed his South Australian Company which became the real founder of the new colony.
In 1839, he sent out his agent, Flaxman, to buy property on his behalf, but as a result, he found himself in debt.
He eventually sold all his properties in England and Scotland and in 1851 moved to South Australia where he lived until his death at 90.

In the three years of its [South Australia's] colonial existence, only 16 individuals have incurred the sentence of transportation.
                                                                                        Royal South Australian Almanac 1840

Four of them, a quarter of the total, were on the ship George and Ann Mawbey sailed back to Sydney in August that year..

On 1 December 1839, the population of the province [of South Australia] was 10,200.
                                                                                  Royal South Australian Almanack 1840