[2] After a spell as a civilian internee in France in 1803–04, he attended his sister Mary's wedding to indigo plantation owner George Boyd in Calcutta in March 1805,[9][Note 1] remaining in India until November 1806, before returning to Europe.

He bought a cornetcy in the 4th Dragoons regiment of the British Army on 5 May 1808, being promoted to lieutenant in April 1809 en route to Spain to serve in the Peninsular War,[2][10] where he learnt Spanish.

[2] After quitting the army with the brevet rank of major, Light married Miss E. Perois in Derry, Ireland, on 24 May 1821, and moved in literary and artistic circles in Paris, Italy and Sicily[12] for a couple of years.

[14][15] Returning to England in 1824, Light met and fell in love with the beautiful and wealthy 19-year-old Mary Bennet, illegitimate daughter of the 3rd Duke of Richmond, in the London studio of the miniature painter Charlotte Jones.

[13] Light made numerous sketches and Mary studied Egyptology while in Egypt, becoming a friend and keen correspondent of Egyptologist John Gardner Wilkinson.

[16] By 1835, negotiations had been completed for the founding of the new British Province of South Australia, according to the scheme of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, intended as a self-supporting free colony.

[30] Instructions for Light's role in the expedition "for the purpose of effecting such a survey of the different harbours and the adjoining land as may be necessary to the correct determination of the best site for the first town" were given in a document dated 9 March 1836.

[33] Despite the natural advantages of the site, Light faced opposition, mainly from Hindmarsh, who wished to locate the city near the River Murray mouth near Encounter Bay,[34] and some of settlers, who objected to the distance from the port.

The opposition to the plan culminated in a meeting on 10 February, at which a letter from Light to Resident Commissioner James Hurtle Fisher outlining the reasons for his choice, praising the good soil, extensive neighbouring plains and sheep grazing, a plentiful year-round supply of excellent fresh water, easy communication with its harbour, proximity to the Murray River, as well as the beauty of the country.

[35] The letter included a personal note: "The reasons that led me to fix Adelaide where it is I do not expect to be generally understood or calmly judged of at present.

An amendment proposed by Dr Wright[Note 3] and seconded by Deputy Surveyor George Strickland Kingston upheld Light's selection in March 1837.

[36][37] After a quarrel between Hindmarsh and Resident Commissioner Fisher, which also drew in other settlers and officials, Colonial Secretary Gouger, one of Light's chief supporters, was suspended and replaced.

[35] Adelaide's characteristic geometrical grid pattern is not unprecedented: apart from earlier examples going back to ancient Greece,[43][44] it follows part of a series of rules created by Spanish planners for their colonial cities, known as the "Laws of the Indies".

Long before Light was engaged, the colonisation of South Australia had been designed as a kind of social experiment, drawing on the thinking of many notable minds: Jeremy Bentham, George Grote, Robert Owen, John Stuart Mill, and, closest to home, Edward Gibbon Wakefield.

[47] Primary source researcher Kelly Henderson has confirmed that there is an extant original 1838 cadastral map of Adelaide, held by the State Library of South Australia.

Navarino) and William Jacob (among those who came out on the Rapid), and draughtsman Robert G. Thomas (being among those who came out on the Cygnet), offering a range of services to prospective purchasers of city and country properties,[50] and to local government bodies.

Many of his watercolours were published in London in 1823 and 1828, and a number of his works, including an incomplete self-portrait in oils,[54] are in the collection of Art Gallery of South Australia on North Terrace.

[citation needed] Maria (pronounced "Mariah"[16]) Gandy (23 November 1811 – 14 December 1847) was designated by Light's Will as his housekeeper,[57] but thought to be his de facto wife.

In 1847, aged 36, Maria Mayo died of tuberculosis, not long after the death of their fourth child, and was buried in an unmarked grave in West Terrace Cemetery.

[59] Some strange drawings and diagrams discovered in the Flinders University library collections of Mayo and Dutton papers suggested that Gandy "moved around the state with an entourage of dwarfs".

[7] Today, historians view Gandy as providing strength to the sickly Light, helping him to achieve his goals while being treated as a pariah by many fellow pioneers.

[4] On 10 October 1839, after a group of mourners met at his home, his funeral service took place at Trinity Church on North Terrace, after which the procession walked to the nearby Light Square.

[4] The foundation stone for the memorial was laid by James Hurtle Fisher in 1843, and witnessed by a select few,[64] but the edifice itself, designed by George Strickland Kingston free of charge,[4] was not completed until February 1845.

[66][Note 4] The plan of the city of Adelaide stands as a lasting legacy to Light's genius, praised both in the early days and more recent literature.

The statue of Light was unveiled on 27 November 1906[71] in its original location at the northern end of Victoria Square,[37] (opposite the General Post Office).

The ceremony was presided over by the Mayor of Adelaide, Theodore Bruce, attended by many notables, including the Chief Justice, John Hannah Gordon, and the Premier, Thomas Price.

The Governor of South Australia, Sir George Le Hunte, gave an address in which he praised Light highly, cheered on by the crowd.

[58] The inscription on the plaque at the front reads: Colonel William Light First Surveyor General; Fixed the site and laid out the city of Adelaide in 1836; Erected by citizens; 1906.

He said that "months of painstaking art history and genealogical research" into its provenance had led to a man called Shimmin, who had worked for Light’s colleague William Jacob in the Barossa Valley and in whose family it had remained for generations.

Rather than presenting a by-the-numbers historical retelling, the play explores the personal circumstances first of Francis Light and his pivotal role in Penang's modern history, and then of his son William in Adelaide.