Seeking adventure and fortune in his own right, Price arrived in South Australia as a cabin passenger on the barque Fortitude in April 1842, just a month before his seventeenth birthday.
In January 1843 Campbell and Price took out an occupation licence for a grazing run in the Mid North of South Australia at Hill River, their resident stock keeper being William Roach.
In doing so he selected the picturesque site for the first homestead, beside Wilpena Creek, upon a flat studded with noble native pines and majestic red gums, flanked by the soaring range of the pound.
Due to the economic depression in South Australia which followed the Victorian gold rush, Price made few improvements to Canowie, which was sold in January 1858.
Nevertheless, as a result of the Canowie sale Price was able to buy Wilpena in his own right in 1861, paying £40,400 to the Browne brothers for the lease, including livestock comprising some 17,000 sheep.
In common with pastoralist stations in remote districts, he established a small village of buildings including homestead, blacksmith's shop, store, workers' cottages, cemetery, stables, yards, and shearing shed.