Place Names of South Australia - C

Cotton, Hundred of - Couedic, Cape du

Cotton, Hundred of
Cottonville
Couedic, Cape du

Cotton, Hundred of

Nomenclature

George W. Cotton, MLC (1882-1892) .

General Notes

A school of this name opened in 1914 and closed in 1945.

The town of Cotton in the Hundred of Noarlunga is discussed in the Chronicle,
26 May 1894, page 9e,
17 November 1894, page 23b,
Observer,
21 April 1894, page 29c.

"Mr Cotton and the Military" is in the Chronicle, 25 June 1870, page 6d:

The belief is daily gaining ground that war is legalised murder, except in extreme self-defence, scientifically devised to kill the greatest number of persons in the shortest time, and that in times of peace a standing army is a great mischief, because it keeps men in enforced idleness... A letter concerning the proposed working men's blocks sponsored by G.W. Cotton is in the Register,
30 August 1884, page 7e; also see
Observer,
30 August 1884, page 24e,
Advertiser,
4 September 1884, page 4e,
Register,
4, 5 and 7 November 1884, pages 4e, 7e and 4f,
10 and 14 January 1885, pages 4f and 6f,
20 November 1885, page 3e,
3 March 1886, page 7g,
10, 13 and 23 March 1886, pages 7h, 7e and 3g,
2, 9, 21 and 23 April 1886, pages 7e, 7g, 7f and 7a,
15 and 19 May 1886, pages 4g-7a and 6e,
16, 18, 19 and 23 February 1887, pages 7e, 7g, 6a and 5a,
7 May 1887, page 7c,
18 June 1888, page 7c.

"The Land We Live In", an address given by George W. Cotton to the Working Men's Club, is reproduced in the Register,
9 January 1885, page 6b.

Two letters written by Mr Cotton on the subject "What Can be Produced from Twenty Acres" are in the Advertiser,
13 and 20 July 1885, pages 7b and 7c.

A state-wide report on working men's blocks is in the Register on
9 July 1889, page 6f; also see
20 February 1895, page 4f for editorial comment and
23 November 1896, pages 4f-6c.

His comments on the "Chinese Question" are in the Register,
16 May 1888, page 7h.

Following spirited public debates on unemployment Thomas H. Smeaton, under the heading "Delusive Demagogues", fires the following shot across Mr Cotton's and a compatriot's bows:

Register

A fortnight later another opinion was forthcoming :

Register

The maligned politician sprang to defend himself on 13 April 1886, page 6f:

Any man speaking of me as attempting to "gull" anybody can only be measuring me by some standard of his own to which course I respectfully demur to have judgments passed upon me... Another correspondent to the Register on 16 September 1886 at page 7h complained:

If [he] wishes his 300 to 400 pioneers on labourers' blocks to succeed he had better abstain from inflaming their zeal with misleading statements, but rather ought to preach to them uninterrupted industry (no eight-hours system), the strictest of economy and an unlimited amount of self-denial. A further unsolicited opinion is given in the Register on 27 October 1886, page 7h:

A letter from Rev Honner is in the Register, 15 February 1888, page 3g:

If I may judge of those blocks by some I have seen, then they must be intended blockheads, for no sane man would live on them, unless he was seeking a wilderness for the occupation of meditation. This suggestion is castigated by Mr Cotton on 17 February 1888, page 7f:

I hope when the historian has to look back at the difficulties small holdings had to encounter... that there will not be "perils among false brethren" to be received as amongst the bitterest opposition. Another citizen enters the fray on 22 February 1888 at page 6b:

Cotton's the man for all jobs,
He scowls on all the nobs,
He winks and shouts at the snobs,
And he sighs for the Government's bobs.

On 25 June 1888 on page 7g of the Register he proffered the following advice to the world:

If it is good to listen to the counsel of an enemy much more should it be tried to profit from the well-meant advice of a friend. But when these kind words come from numerous quarters, as they often do, one may well feel perplexed... In the heat of a public debate on the "land question" a correspondent to the Register on 31 July 1888, page 6d puts the following to Mr Cotton:

An editorial on the Block system is in the Register, 16 March 1888, pages 4h and 6f:

Taken at its best it seems to us that it is more a hindrance than of a help to the establishment of a sound and rational system of land tenure... Mr Cotton's spirited defence appears on 19 March 1888, page 7c while on 21 March at page 7f a correspondent says:

Two correspondents to the Register on 28 August 1888 at page 7c-e pass judgement on Mr Cotton:

You will have observed long ago that Mr Cotton never gives a straight-forward answer however called for by nasty innuendoes, falsehoods and misrepresentations which he slips into his communications...
(Also see Register, 30 August 1888, page 7g.)

Mr Cotton dissertated on "Christianity in Politics" in the Register,
2 January 1889, page 7h while on
17 January 1889 at page 6g he opined that "Justness towards one another is the first faculty in man that is worth the trouble of being cultivated by civilised beings..."; also see
22 January 1889, page 7e.

On the subject of "Workers" he said in the Register, 31 December 1889, page 7h:

His views on women's suffrage in respect of municipal elections are expressed in the Register,
29 January 1890, page 7g, while on
10 February 1890 at page 6g he aired some misgivings under the heading "The Parliament and the Adelaide Club":

The following opinion is expressed in the Register, 4 August 1890, page 6e:

Biographical details are in the Observer,
27 October 1888, page 33b;
an obituary is in the Register,
17 December 1892, page 6c:

Anything which tended to benefit the working classes received [his] most serious attention... There has been no man who has been more straight forward and endeavoured to do good in the community... The good acts of some men are far above their failings and [his] little faults could well be overlooked... The working men's block system [has] been a moral lesson to all the world... The tide of wealth had been heaped against him, but he had never shrunk from his duties. At his funeral, which was reported in the Register,
19 December 1892, page 6h, a wreath from some "blockers" bore the inscription - "In loving gratitude to [our] father, friend and champion"; also see
27 December 1892 (supp.), page 2c for another eulogy accorded him.
Biographical details are in the Observer,
27 October 1888, page 33b.

The Register of 3 February 1893, page 7d has a proposal for a "Cotton Memorial Homestead Institute" and at the same time the author unwittingly pens an appropriate epitaph for a man of compassion and Christian principles:

He it was who trod that broader path of humanity, revelled in those broader views that teach us there is a temporal as well as a spiritual side to questions concerning man's salvation... See Place Names - Mylor.

The Hundred of Cotton is described in the Chronicle,
7 December 1907, page 45.

Information on the mallee town of Cotton is in the Advertiser,
11 October 1907, page 7g. The Observer of 18 September 1909 says the site of the Mallee town of Wilkawatt was formerly known as "Cotton Bore".

A nearby bushfire is reported in the Advertiser,
25 January 1908, page 11c.

The Hundred is described in the Advertiser,
21 November 1901, page 6h.

An obituary of George S. Cotton is in the Observer, 2 November 1918, page 13a.

Cotton, Hundred of - Couedic, Cape du
C
Place Names

Cottonville

Data in the Department of Lands shows that the suburb was first laid out as "homestead blocks" but not gazetted.

A "Blockers'" sports day and picnic is reported in the Register,
13 April 1896, page 7i,
Chronicle,
18 April 1896, page 22e; also see
Express,
1 May 1897, page 7c.

The laying of the foundation stone of the new Church of Christ is reported in the Register,
28 March 1916, page 6c.

Cotton, Hundred of - Couedic, Cape du
C
Place Names

Couedic, Cape du

Nomenclature

On the south-west coast of Kangaroo Island was named by Baudin in 1803. Le Chevalier du Cou�dic (1739-1780), a French Navy Captain. He went to sea at the age of 16 and his first command was the frigate La Surveillante and in her he captured an English privateersman after a vigorous engagement but it was his battle against the frigate Quebec which brought him immortal fame as one of France's foremost naval heroes.

General Notes

Also see South Australia - Maritime Affairs - Lighthouses and Lightships.

Information on the survey, construction and opening of the lighthouse is in the Observer,
23 December 1905, page 37c,
21 April 1906, page 7d,
Advertiser,
4 February 1907, page 9e,
28 October 1907, page 9f,
Register,
9 and 28 October 1907, pages 3g and 7e,
25 November 1907, page 4e,
9 November 1908, page 7g,
22 January 1909, page 4h,
26 and 29 June 1909, pages 7i and 4d-9a.
Photographs are in the Observer,
22 May 1909, page 30:

At a meeting of the Marine Board in December 1905 it was decided to erect a new lighthouse at the cape. The light was envisaged to be a 'first order light', visible 21 miles...

"Lighthousekeeper's Life" is in The Mail,
23 January 1926, page 14c.
A photograph of a shed erected for "shipwrecked sailors" is in the Chronicle,
27 August 1936, page 34.

Maritime Affairs - Lighthouses and Lightships.

Cotton, Hundred of - Couedic, Cape du
C