He married a daughter of one James Griffin, an English newspaperman, and emigrated to South Australia aboard the Sea Park, captain Spedding,[a] arriving in December 1852 after a journey of 110 days.
His brother Julian Tenison Woods arrived in South Australia around March 1855, and joined the staff of the Adelaide Times as sub-editor.
His organisational skills resulted in his promotion to Manager of Waterworks,[8] and oversaw the initial provision of piped water to the City of Adelaide.
Woods returned to reporting parliamentary select committees and commissions alongside Ebenezer Ward and Frederick Sinnett, which lasted around three years.
In 1871 he visited Melbourne to catch up with his eldest brother Edward, who had recently left The Times to join The Argus's parliamentary reporting staff.
[14] On returning to Adelaide he found employment with Joseph Darwent's Intercolonial and Coasting Steam and Shipping Company, as corresponding clerk, a position he held for some years.
In October 1890 J. C. Bray, Chief Secretary of the Playford government, gave Woods the task of writing an official history of the colony of South Australia, and began work that December.
[18] Besides unparalleled access to official documents he had 40 years' experience in the colony to call on, and a similar length of journalistic training.
The Register reviewer believed the book was excessively dry, and unlikely to serve its assumed purpose of attracting immigrants to the state.
"[20]Woods' contribution to South Australian letters through his journalism about the Duke of Edinburgh's visit, "The Native Tribes" and "The Province" was later acknowledged by Sir William Sowden ("A.