Colonel William Light Monument

The sculpture commemorates Colonel William Light, founder of the city of Adelaide. It was originally in Victoria Square and shifted in 1938 to Montefiore Lookout, and was renamed 'Light`s Vision' at the suggestion of the Pioneers` Association.

On the back of the pedestal is a wreath relating to the 1917 Town Planning Conference in Adelaide as well a plaque which was unveiled in 1967 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the conference.

Colonel William Light (1786 – 1839) was a British military officer and the first Surveyor-General of the Colony of South Australia. Light was the Colony`s first Surveyor-General and was given sole responsibility for selecting the site of Adelaide and preparing the City Plan in 1836-37, for which he has been much praised. He also designed the layout of main roads and subdivision into `sections` of much of the present metropolitan area.

Legend has it that William Light stood on Montefiore Hill (in North Adelaide) in 1837, pointed at what would one day become the Adelaide city centre, and began planning the city.

A plaque was added to the pedestal bearing an extract from Light`s Brief Journal. In his journal Light wrote, `The reasons that led me to fix Adelaide where it is I do not expect to be generally understood or calmly judged of at present … I leave it to posterity … to decide whether I am entitled to praise or to blame`.