Kangaroo Island - The Early Years
The early habitation and development of Kangaroo Island unfolded in waves, some more transformative than others. When English explorer Captain Matthew Flinders and French Post Captain Nicolas Baudin visited the island briefly in 1802, they found no resident human population. Subsequent investigations, however, revealed evidence of an earlier Aboriginal presence, marked by numerous stone tools dating back thousands of years.
While the fleeting visits of Flinders and Baudin cannot be considered a "wave" in themselves, their arrival set the stage for the first significant wave: the influx of sealers and, to a lesser extent, whalers, along with their Aboriginal partners from Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) and mainland Australia.
Some of these individuals settled permanently, establishing industries that would later attract official settlers of the South Australian Company in 1836.
Seal skins, oil, salt, and kangaroo and wallaby skins were in high demand and traded through Sydney agents, contributing to the survival of the fledgling New South Wales economy. Buyers in China and Britain eagerly consumed these resources.
In 1803, as Nicolas Baudin prepared to return to France, he stopped at King George Sound in Western Australia, where he encountered American sealer Captain Isaac Pendleton. Pendleton, struggling to meet his quota of seal skins, was advised by Baudin to head east to Kangaroo Island, where seals were abundant. This advice sparked a 30-year period during which Kangaroo Island became a hub for seal hunting. Fur seals and sea lions were highly valued for various purposes, drawing sealers who initially operated as part of the itinerant Straitsman group, moving between the Bass Strait islands and the Indian Ocean.
By 1819, sealers began to settle on the island, bringing with them Aboriginal women as partners—some voluntarily, others captured during brutal "gin raids." These women played a crucial role, not only as partners but also as experts in the local environment, skilled in hunting, foraging, and processing animal skins.
Competition among sealing gangs intensified as seal stocks diminished, leading to increasingly harsh conditions. The situation worsened in 1825 when Van Diemen’s Land became a separate colony with jurisdiction over the Bass Strait islands but not Kangaroo Island. This left the island in a lawless state where the exploitation of Aboriginal women, treated as slaves, was rampant until slavery was outlawed in 1833.
The next major wave arrived in 1836 with the official settlers of the South Australian Company. However, their impact on island life was less significant than anticipated. While the first ships anchored at Nepean Bay, the location was soon deemed unsuitable, prompting the settlers to relocate to the Adelaide Plains. For many, the arduous five-month journey from their homeland had already been physically, emotionally, and financially draining, and the prospect of moving again was daunting.
By the mid-to-late 1800s, when the mainland's best agricultural land had been allocated, a new wave of agriculturalists arrived on Kangaroo Island. These settlers established schools, churches, and local governance, gradually transforming the island's rough, sealer-influenced culture into a more structured and "civilised" society—a process of relentless gentrification. Some farming family names from this era remain prominent on the island today.
The systematic capture and imprisonment of convicts and lawbreakers in the late 1800s further contributed to taming the community. Interestingly, some sealers, such as Nat Thomas and William Walker, adapted well to the island's evolving economy and society.
Among the agricultural settlers was Thomas Willson, who arrived in South Australia in 1849. Thomas, originally from a family of jewellers in Spalding, Lincolnshire, identified as a jeweller on his marriage license but as an agriculturalist on the ship’s manifest. With three sons to support, farming offered the most viable path forward. Thus began the story of my family, the double-L Willsons of Willson River on Kangaroo Island.
Their journey spanned five long months at sea. Having left England during the promise of spring, they eventually disembarked in Port Adelaide in the midst of an Australian spring. The mosquitoes of Adelaide, infamous even then, greeted the weary travelers at what was colloquially known as Port Misery. Despite the challenges, the family of four found their way to the city and began to establish their new life. The timeline remains somewhat unclear, but the family initially settled in a house on Beulah Road, Norwood, before later moving to Yankalilla. It seems likely that migrants were allotted both a city block and some acreage in the countryside as part of their settlement.
At Yankalilla, the family flourished, growing to include three boys—Thomas Jr., Charles, and Martin—and a daughter, Lucy. Thomas Sr. left his mark on the fledgling township, building the Yankalilla Hotel and donating land for a council chamber. He played a pivotal role in shaping the settlement during his decade-long stay, but eventually, the call for more land stirred him again. With two sons now attending St. Peter’s College, which had opened in 1847, Thomas Sr. began exploring opportunities further afield, even considering properties in Western Australia and the Gawler Ranges.
By the early 1860s, the family had settled near Ballast Head on Kangaroo Island. What drew them there is unknown—perhaps the proximity to Adelaide by sea, which was more practical than navigating the mainland’s unmade roads. This period marked significant change at the eastern end of the island. The State Government had begun offering large pastoral leases, attracting settlers alongside ex-sealers like Nat Thomas and William Walker, who had already begun farming there.
By 1875, as government policies evolved, these leases were resumed, the land surveyed, and sections offered for sale. For the early settlers, including the ex-sealers, affording this land presented a challenge. Family lore suggests Thomas Sr. had brought £800 with him from England, and Martin reportedly caught and sold wallabies and possums to pay for his share of the freeholding—the portion of land that remains in the hands of his descendants to this day.
The New Century
With the dawn of Federation, Kangaroo Island, like the rest of the country, experienced a wave of progress. Hog Bay, in particular, saw significant development, gaining both a hotel and a jetty.
Before the jetty’s construction in 1903, all small-scale shipping operations relied on Christmas Cove, locally known as The Basin. Larger vessels, unable to dock, anchored offshore while goods and passengers were ferried to and from the beach using bullock drays or rowboats.
For nearly a century, sealers had relied on The Basin as the safest and most efficient landing point, naturally establishing it as the commercial heart of this end of the island long before the jetty was built. However, the construction of the jetty shifted the hub of daily life. Within just a few years, new businesses and infrastructure emerged near the jetty, including a hotel, two shops, a guesthouse, and a police station. Hog Bay was transforming.
The crowning achievement of this new era was the SS Karatta, a steamer built in 1907 specifically for the Outer Harbour to Kangaroo Island route.
With its twice-weekly service to both Kingscote and Penneshaw, it revolutionized transport and trade, making the island more connected than ever before.
SS Karatta