Was Adelaide (Australia) Founded By A Thai?

[SiameseCurios]

Was Adelaide founded by a Thai?

I’ve been reading this forum today and have noticed that two guys (THEMADPOORFEELOVER and KRISB) come from Adelaide.

So … I thought I’d write a Thailand-related history of Adelaide. I’ll write this off the top of my head as I want to test my memory.

Back in 1511, the Portuguese had a colony in Goa. But they wanted more. They wanted total control of the Malacca straits in order to have uninterrupted access to the shipping lanes out to the Spice Islands, China, Japan and beyond.

So they set out from Goa in 1511 with a fleet of 17 or 18 ships. They headed east to the Sultanate of Malacca, and they completely smashed it. One of the men who took part in this expedition was called Rozells.

In 1641, the Dutch came along and took control of Malacca. The Portuguese were ousted: some of them remained in Malacca; others moved north to Phuket. One man who moved north was called Rozells.

In the 1780s, the British East India Company came along. The Main Man was a guy called Captain Francis Light. He was a good guy. He learned the local languages; he got on well with people who mattered; and by all accounts, he was well-liked and respected.

In due course, Francis Light arranged a deal with the Sultan of Kedah whereby the British would take possession of Penang Island. As a result, Penang became the first colony in what would eventually become British Malaysia.

In addition to hanging out in Penang, Francis Light did a bit of business in Phuket. One day he met a Portuguese Thai called Martinha Rozells. I guess you could say they fell in love. They stuck together for 22 years. And they had kids.

One of their sons was called William Light. When William grew up, he became Colonel William Light. And he was the guy who founded Adelaide.

So .. when talking about Adelaide, you could say:

1. the city was founded by a Brit

2. the city was founded by a Brit whose dad founded the colony on Penang

3. the city was founded by a man whose mum had a Portuguese ancestry that dated back to the 15111 conquest of Malacca

4. the city was founded by a guy who was part Thai

All true! Adelaide is often voted one of the world’s most “liveable” cities. But I wonder how many Thais know that it was founded by a guy who was part Thai.

Further reading

Go to http://newspapers.nl.sg/ and search for "The Mystery of the Light Marriage". The article you need is shown at number two in the search results. It's from the Straits Times, March 31 1949.

[SiameseCurios]

The grave of Captain Francis Light:

1. the man who established the British settlement on Penang

2. the man whose son founded the Australian city of Adelaide

3. the man who married a Portuguese-Thai girl from Phuket called Martinha Rozells

[manly100]

Well done! my good fellow.

[SiameseCurios]

Well done! my good fellow.

Yeah -- Captain Francis Light did some pretty cool stuff.

He founded Penang and had a son who in turn founded Adelaide, but he also helped the (Catholic) Portuguese-Thais to migrate south to Kedah when the Burmese threatened to attack Phuket. And when they got to Kedah, he helped them to relocate to Penang.

He's kind of revered by those in the know He created a truly cosmopolitan community.

Some of what he achieved is gone now, though. The Japs came along in WWII. They hammered the local ethnic minorities. They rounded them up and sent them off to work on the Burmese railway. More than 100,000 of them died.

The Japs considered themselves the Master Race, and they were especially hard on the Portuguese Eurasians.

A few Portuguese descendants escaped from Penang, but not many. They went to the mainland -- Kedah.

But back then, Kedah wasn't Kedah. The Japs had returned the province to Thailand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syburi

So Kedah was called SYBURI province. It's kind of the lost province of Thailand.

And so the escapees fled north into Songkhla. A few of them made it. But most were either shot or captured and sent to work on the Burmese railway.

I only know of two Portuguese-Thais who survived.

[krisb]

Well I never!..

Thats quite amazing you were able to find the relation between Colonel Light and Thailand.

I notice you named his a Captain but he ended up a Colonel perhaps later on in his life and today there is still Colonel Light Gardens, a suburb here.

I assume its the same guy.

Well thanks for finding that, its almost a bit of 6 degrees of seperation.

[krisb]

Well I never!..

Thats quite amazing you were able to find the relation between Colonel Light and Thailand.

Well thanks for finding that, its almost a bit of 6 degrees of seperation.

Sorry Ive realized it was his son. Disregard the is it the same guy bit.

[SiameseCurios]

Well I never!..

Thats quite amazing you were able to find the relation between Colonel Light and Thailand.

Happy to be of help!

If it's of any interest, the surname Rozells still lives on in Penang. And in Singapore, too.

About 1000 Portuguese Eurasians still live in Penang, by the way.

I wrote last time that only two Portuguese Thais made it successfully into Songkhla during the second World War. The correct number is eight.

The girl I live with is related to the woman who married Captain Francis Light -- the man whose son founded your city.

She and I look at Adelaide on Google. It looks like a really beautiful place. You're lucky to live there.

In due course, she and I will go to the Minho province in the north of Portugal. This is where most of the very early Portuguese explorers came from. After that, we plan to go to Adelaide.

Anyway, have a great day tomorrow. It really is extremely interesting to read about your city!

[theslime]

I too am originally from Adelaide and knew about the Thai connection but I thought the women Francis married was a princess from Junk Ceylon(Phuket). Will Wilki it and see.

[SiameseCurios]

I too am originally from Adelaide and knew about the Thai connection but I thought the women Francis married was a princess from Junk Ceylon(Phuket). Will Wilki it and see.

If you "WIKI" Captain Francis Light, you'll see that his wife was a Siamese Portuguese girl.

But many other sources get it wrong. They describe her as the "beautiful" or "exotic" Princess of Kedah. This is all wrong.

Read the article I referenced in the opening post. It's from the Straits Times, 1949, and it dispels the myths.

This link is also good:

http://andaman.com/p...torymartina.asp

BAD NEWS

When Captain Francis Light died, he bequeathed Suffolk House (Penang) to Martinha Rozells, but she never got it. The British East India Company decided that the mansion was the property of the Crown (ie, the British Government) and could not be given to a Catholic. So they paid her off and gave her a pension.

[macksview]

well researched sir,the "old" adelaide is beautifully designed,it was a model city,the only australian colony settled by free settlers

[geriatrickid]

Adelaide was most certainly not founded by a Thai. Colonel Light was a product of Great Britain, holding citizenship, receiving his education in England and serving the British Empire. Perhaps his mother had some siamese ancestry. So what? He spent his formative years in England. He spent his youth in the service of the British military. It was his British upbringing and British culture and a political climate created by British colonial expansion that brought him to Australia.

Your logic is unsound because your argument is predicated solely upon the possibility of his mother having some Siamese heritage. This Siamese connection is tenuous at best and had no influence upon Colonel Light's selection of Adelaide. The man was serving in the military and was given an order from the military to go and find a suitable place to build a town. That order's origin was with the British government of the day. No credfit can be given to Siam (now called Thailand) because Siam had absolutely no role in the selection of Adelaide. Colonel Light was not Siamese, was not a subject of Siam, and was not in the service of Siam.

I am sure you worked very hard on your treatise and meant it as a bit of light hearted fun. However, it is revisionist history and something one would see in the former east bloc of Europe where various innovations made in the west were claimed by the east bloc as their own.

[Bagwan]

I too am originally from Adelaide and knew about the Thai connection but I thought the women Francis married was a princess from Junk Ceylon(Phuket). Will Wilki it and see.

If you "WIKI" Captain Francis Light, you'll see that his wife was a Siamese Portuguese girl.

But many other sources get it wrong. They describe her as the "beautiful" or "exotic" Princess of Kedah. This is all wrong.

Read the article I referenced in the opening post. It's from the Straits Times, 1949, and it dispels the myths.

This link is also good:

http://andaman.com/p...torymartina.asp

BAD NEWS

When Captain Francis Light died, he bequeathed Suffolk House (Penang) to Martinha Rozells, but she never got it. The British East India Company decided that the mansion was the property of the Crown (ie, the British Government) and could not be given to a Catholic. So they paid her off and gave her a pension.

I'll bet the pension wasn't subject to annual COL increments.

[krisb]

Adelaide was most certainly not founded by a Thai. Colonel Light was a product of Great Britain, holding citizenship, receiving his education in England and serving the British Empire. Perhaps his mother had some siamese ancestry. So what? He spent his formative years in England. He spent his youth in the service of the British military. It was his British upbringing and British culture and a political climate created by British colonial expansion that brought him to Australia.

Your logic is unsound because your argument is predicated solely upon the possibility of his mother having some Siamese heritage. This Siamese connection is tenuous at best and had no influence upon Colonel Light's selection of Adelaide. The man was serving in the military and was given an order from the military to go and find a suitable place to build a town. That order's origin was with the British government of the day. No credfit can be given to Siam (now called Thailand) because Siam had absolutely no role in the selection of Adelaide. Colonel Light was not Siamese, was not a subject of Siam, and was not in the service of Siam.

I am sure you worked very hard on your treatise and meant it as a bit of light hearted fun. However, it is revisionist history and something one would see in the former east bloc of Europe where various innovations made in the west were claimed by the east bloc as their own.

Sorry but Ive just read his story and he certainly is part Thai, certainly not tenuous at best.

His schooling and career choice has nothing to do with his bloodlines. His bloodline is half British and part Thai.

The op isnt giving credit to Thailand for any of Lights work.

He is simply stating that Light has Thai blood. Which he does.

You also go on to say that east bloc Europe claims various innovations as their own when they are ideas from the west,

well your claiming Light as a product of England when he was born in Malaysia.

[metisdead]

Adelaide is not in Thailand, not Thailand related.

Closed