He arrived in Australia around 1852 and spent several years touring the country before settling in Adelaide around 1855 and in 1858 purchased from John Morphett (acting for William Augustine Leigh (1802–1873),[2] of Little Aston Hall, Staffordshire)[3] a farm in Clarendon, which he developed as a vineyard and winery.
His knowledge of English Gothic Revival style of architecture influenced the design of St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide.
... William Townsend, MHA[10]He was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly seat of The Burra and Clare in March 1857 and resigned in October 1859[11] when he was appointed manager of the Traffic Branch of the South Australian Railways.
[12] He was a member of the Southern Rifle Association (part of South Australia's volunteer militia force) and in 1862 its President[13] He was also Chairman of the Duryea Mining Company.
[14] He left Clarendon in 1870[15] and served as Stipendiary Magistrate at Port Adelaide until late 1874, when he was forced by increasing ill health to resign.