He selected a property near the Torrens Gorge, where he established a makeshift dwelling in a cave, then built a comfortable cottage and shortly afterwards married Harriet Fill, a fellow passenger on the Cleveland.
[1] In this idyllic setting their eldest daughter was born, but around 1842 he abandoned rural life for that of a publican, and moved into the city, taking over the "Royal Oak" hotel, then the "Globe Inn", on the Stephens Place corner of Rundle Street.
In October 1852 he and his brother Robert, who had arrived aboard British Empire in August 1850, opened a wine and spirits shop at 51 Rundle Street as "J & R Carruthers", which business prospered, and for a time was the largest liquor outlet in Adelaide.
[3] Then came the depression brought about by Governor Grey's financial stringency, and in 1864 with a crowd of creditors unable to pay their debts, Carruthers was forced to declare himself insolvent.
[6] At the age of 25 he returned to South Australia, and in 1873 after an interview with the Surveyor-General, George Goyder, he entered the service under Charles Wells.