Simpson Newland - Ridgway William Newland

Ridgway William Newland

Simpson Newland was born on 2 November 1835 at Hanley, Staffordshire, England, son of Rev. Ridgway Newland and his second wife Martha, née Keeling.

His father, the Rev. Ridgway William Newland (1790–1864), was a Congregational minister at Hanley for twenty-two years. He was selected by the Colonial Missionary Society to form a settlement in South Australia, and sailed in the Sir Charles Forbes with some thirty colonists, including his second wife Martha, an accomplished linguist and classical scholar, who cared for her three young children and five of Newland's first marriage. The party arrived in Adelaide in June 1839 and went on in the Lord Hobart to Encounter Bay, where a large area of land was taken up.

The life was a hard one for the pioneers, and even when they succeeded in growing a crop of wheat, there were no facilities for threshing it or grinding it into flour. Sheep and cattle were procured and the family gradually prospered. A church was built at which the father held services, but he would accept no money for his ministrations.

Ridgway Newland also became a magistrate and was for many years chairman of the Encounter Bay district council. Everywhere looked upon as the leading man of his denomination. He was fatally injured when his coach capsized, and died at the age of 75 on 9 March 1864. A church was built in his honour at Victor Harbor, and Newland's Head and the Newland Bridge are named after him.