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Source : The Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time, J. Henniker Heaton, Sydney, 1879, p. 76.
“GILES, WILLIAM, Adelaide, South Australia, one of the early settlers, was born at Great Staughton, Huntingdonshire, December 27, 1791, and was educated at the Kimbolton Grammar School. He received an appointment under the South Australian Company in 1837-7, and arrived at Kangaroo Island (where the Company first formed a settlement), on October 16, 1837, in the barque ‘Hartley,’ a vessel chartered by the S. A. Company. Mr. Giles brought his wife and eleven children to the colony with him. In 1838 he was appointed stipendiary magistrate by Governor Hindmarsh, and subsequently succeeded Mr. John M’Laren as general manager of the S. A. Company, which office he held for upwards of twenty years. Mr. Giles fought resolutely against the attempt to introduce State-aid to religion in South Australia. The colony is greatly indebted to him for its present condition of religious freedom. To carry out his views of perfect equality in matters of religion, Mr. Giles offered himself to represent the district of Yatalla in the year 1851, and was returned in opposition to the State-aid candidate. He had the satisfaction of materially in framing the new Constitution Act, which gave to the colony universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and other political advantages. he was the warm friend and coadjutor of the Rev. T. Q. Stow, and a very useful lay preacher in connection with the Congregational body. He liberally assisted with his talents and purse every scheme for the religious and social well-being of the community. He died in 1861 in his 70th year, universally respected, and leaving behind him upwards of fifty descendants in the colony.”
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