On 29 August 1834, a couple of weeks after the passing of the South Australia Act 1834,[1] a group led by the Colonial Secretary, Robert Gouger, and solicitor Richard Hanson[2] and a number of prominent colonists, including Ernest Giles, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, John Morphett, Robert Torrens Snr, and John Hindmarsh formed the South Australian Literary Association in Adelphi Chambers, London.
[1] Its aim was "the cultivation and diffusion of useful knowledge throughout the colony by all means which may lie in its power", in particular literature, the arts, history and natural science".
He had been working with Hanson and Wakefield in developing a research library in which they gathered material not just as regards Australia, but also from the experiences of the British colonisation of Canada and North America.
[6] The members of the association were radical reformers, holding ideals of social equity and separation of church and state, and were all wealthy, well-educated gentlemen.
Their ideals overlapped to some degree with the lower-brow Mechanics' Institute movement, with both originating in the huge increase in industry, printed matter, knowledge and ideas in the early 19th century.