Two months later they left for South Australia on the Trevelyan, arriving at Port Adelaide on 22 March 1866, and made straight for Burra, where he found work as a trolley driver at the mine.
After three years he returned to Adelaide, and found work with flour millers Edwin Davey & Sons in Salisbury, as engineer and manager of their electric lighting plant.
In 1907, with a loan of £100 from his father-in-law William Goodman (c. 1838 – 29 May 1909) of "Ashfield", Salisbury, he set up his own contracting business in their rented home, and soon had enough work to hire an assistant.
[5] On his travels through the Australian outback he became aware of the number of children of Aboriginal women who had been fathered by itinerant European men, and appeared to be suffering neglect and susceptible to exploitation.
[2] In 1945, he financed the purchase of 5,800 acres (2,300 ha) at Winkie on the River Murray between Berri and Barmera for the UAM and named Gerard Aboriginal Community in his honour.
In gratitude for the care she received there, Alf commissioned the architect Gordon Brown to design and build what came to be called the Gerard Memorial Chapel in their grounds.
[citation needed] Alfred Edward Gerard's name has been commemorated on one of the plaques of the Jubilee 150 Walkway, North Terrace, Adelaide.