13 February 1837   John Barton Hack

On 13 February 1837, two days after his arrival in Adelaide, John Barton Hack wrote in his diary:

The thermometer is about 104 degrees in the shade and it is such a warm welcome we are rather overcome by it.

Hack, of Quaker stock, came well-prepared for his new life in the colony as he had with him two pre-fabricated Manning houses as well as tools, a waggon and dray, and stock which he had picked up in Launceston in the barque Isabella. 

Hack was involved in a number of business ventures most of which suffered financial losses. The Isabella, and later the chartered vessel Katherine Stewart Forbes, both went down while carrying cargo. He also began an association with the South Australian Company in the whaling station at Encounter Bay which ran at a loss.

An enterprising man, he then established a dairy at Echunga and another at Yankalilla, but in 1843 he was insolvent and lost his properties. He was left with a carrying business which he continued for some time, and later on worked for the railways as an accountant, and was Controller of Railway Accounts when he retired in 1883. In spite of his financial troubles he was a well respected citizen who gave the land in Pennington Terrace, North Adelaide for a meeting house for Quakers. This was erected in 1840 and still stands in the shadow of the much grander St Peter's Cathedral.                    

Diary of J.B. Hack , PRG 456. SSLM.