HARDING family

William Harding and his wife, Matilda (nee Warfield) 

arrived in South Australia on ship Agincourt in 1850, with infant daughter, Elizabeth, from Somerset, England. They initially settled in Norwood, purchasing a piece of land in Section 277 for 12 pounds in 1851. A further piece of land on the eastern sources of the Torrens in the County of Sturt on Section 7065 was purchased in 1853 for 250 pounds. This land included a wooden house and some outbuildings and comprised 80 acres. By this time they had further children, George b.1851 and Mary Ann b.1853. In 1855 the Norwood property was sold for 120 pounds, and Section 7065 in the Hundred of Tungkillo purchased, now known as Spring Meadow, on McGormans Road, Mount Pleasant. According to the family history book ‘From the Axe and the Brue : a Harding family history’ it is not known just how the property came by this name. 

“…the Hardings soon became very respected members” of the Mount Pleasant district. “Within months of the first meeting on 13 December 1856 of the District Council, that body approved William as one of two sureties for one of its office bearers. In 1860 and again in 1867 he was nominated for the Council but on each occasion he just failed to gain sufficient votes to be elected.”

Eliza Jane was born in 1858, but died aged 5 weeks. Ellen was born 1859.

“When the Hardings settled at Mount Pleasant, there were no established churches although a number of moves were underway to correct that situation. One of them resulted in William Harding and five others, acting as Trustees, purchasing from Hiram Gosden for 5/- on 20 April 1859, one acre in the eastern corner of Sect. 7064, Hd of Tungkillo, a section then being leased by William. The land was sold only for the purpose of erecting a chapel by voluntary contributions… A Baptist chapel was indeed erected about 100 yards from the ‘Spring Meadow’ home and dedicated on 25 December 1860. … It existed until the 1890s when it subsided into ruin to be completely demolished in the 1920s.”

William was born 1861 and Charles born 1865.

William Harding senior took an avid interest in the Mount Pleasant Agricultural & Horticultural Society, and over the subsequent 30 years exhibited a wide range of items (Durham cattle, butter, sheepdog exhibits, cheese and even horses). This led to success at the Adelaide Show for cheddar cheese in 1874 and 1875.

The family worshiped with the Church of England before their arrival in South Australia, and they had Baptist Chapel involvement in their early days in the district,  but in 1871, their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was married at the local Presbyterian Church, and the family continued this connection thereafter.

Throughout their farming at ‘Spring Meadow’ William continued to purchase more land, with Section 463 coming into his ownership (Hd. South Rhine, opposite ‘Spring Meadow’) in 1859, Sections 376, 377, 382 and 383 Hd of Tungkillo (known as Blackheath) in 1868, and then Section 374 added to this in 1873. He also purchased Section 7063 (becoming ‘Ivy Bank’), alongside ‘Spring Meadow’ in 1874 and Section 169 in 1875.

The family continued to farm in the area for the next generation.