William Light

Colonel William Light (1786 - 1839) was born in Malaya in 1786, an illegitimate son of Captain Francis Light, the Governor of Penang, and Martina Rozells , the so-called "Princess of Kedah" of mixed Siamese-Portuguese descent.

In 1835, Light was appointed Surveyor-General to the new colony of South Australia, where he laid out the street plan of the city of Adelaide which persists to this day. His role in founding and designing the South Australian capital is remembered as "Light's Vision", and commerated with a statue on Montefiore Hill pointing to the City of Adelaide below. Legend has it that this was the spot from which the Colonel chose the site for the city. Light's design for Adelaide is noted as one of the last great planned metropolises; the city's grid layout, interspaced by public squares, has made it an ideal modern city, able to cope with traffic, and the Adelaide Parklands that surround, provide a "city in a park" feel.