Robert Gouger

Robert Gouger (/ˈɡʊdʒər/; 26 June 1802 – 4 August 1846) was one of the founders of South Australia and first Colonial Secretary of South Australia.

Gouger was the fifth son of nine children of George Gouger (1763-1802), who was a prosperous city merchant, and his wife Anne, née Sibley. Robert was educated at Nottingham, England, and on leaving school he entered his father's office. He became friendly with Robert Owen of Lanark and, influenced by him, began taking an interest in social issues. In 1829 Gouger became associated with Edward Gibbon Wakefield and assisted him in advocating his colonization schemes. In this year Wakefield published A Letter from Sydney which appeared as edited by Robert Gouger. In the same year Gouger forwarded Wakefield's pamphlet, a Sketch of a Proposal for Colonizing Australia, to the colonial office, but received no encouragement.

In November 1829, Gouger ended up in King's Bench Prison as a result of a debt to the printer. There he shared a cell with Anthony Bacon (1796-1864) and first learned about southern Australia from Captain Henry Dixon. Gouger's brother soon rescued him and he began to distribute copies of the Letter, but won little support until he approached Wilmot Horton for help in forming a society for assisting pauper emigration to the colonies. From this embryo was born the National Colonization Society, with Gouger as its secretary, but it failed on theoretical details after Wakefield was released from Newgate in May 1830. Later on he was associated with another book published in 1831, The State of New South Wales in December 1830; in a Letter (addressed to R . Gouger; with remarks by him). In 1830 Gouger and others went to Spain to fight for the constitutional cause and saw active service.

In the years between 1830 and 1834 various colonization schemes were brought forward and Gouger was active in their promulgation. Some of these schemes were intended to be money-making, but the South Australian Association, founded in December 1833 with Gouger as honorary secretary, was principally philanthropic in its objects. Gouger worked untiringly with Wakefield, many obstacles had to be surmounted and many compromises made, but in August 1834 the act for the establishment of South Australia became law. In May 1835 Gouger applied for the position of colonial secretary for South Australia. He disagreed strongly with Wakefield about the price to be asked for land in the new colony and they became estranged in June 1835. Gouger was given the appointment of colonial secretary at a salary of £400 a year and sailed in the Africaine on 30 June 1836. He had been married to Harriet Jackson on 22 October 1835. They landed in South Australia on 10 November 1836. On 28 December 1836, as senior member of the council, Gouger administered the oaths of office to the newly arrived governor Sir John Hindmarsh.

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