Boyhood & Emigration
Boyhood in Scotland
David Badger was born in Haddington, Scotland, on 12 January 1827. He was the second son of William Badger, keeper of the Bell Inn, which still stands but is no longer an inn. Haddington was the first staging post on the coach route from Edinburgh to London and the inn was a constant hive of activity; It is not known whether William was the owner, licensee or manager of the inn or how long he spent in this occupation. He was apparently engaged in other occupations from time to time as he is described in one document as a shoemaker and by his widow on his death certificate as a horse hirer. However, the best tradition seems to be that he was the keeper of the Bell Inn and we can assume that it was in this role that he raised his family.
Little is known of David's boyhood in Scotland. Following his schooling he left home to become an apprentice to a baker and later went to work with another firm about ten miles from Edinburgh. In a letter to one of his sons, published shortly after his death, he described how he became a Christian.
'I was a young man and living away from home. I had, during my apprenticeship, been living with bad people, and among men and boys who indulged in all kinds of sin. I was just like the rest and got very hardened but sometimes seeing true Christians I was led to notice their purity and their power. ..The question arose in my mind, "Is it not best to become a Christian ?". In that state of mind I walked to church to a town called Dalkeith and listened to a good discourse. After the service, a lady spoke to me in a very kindly way: she said, I hope you have an interest in these things. I said I have not. She then invited me to her house for dinner and, seing the order and beauty of a true Christian home, I was led to still more serious thought. I was some time halting betweeq two opinions because to me taking the name of Christ meant abandoning sin and evil companions. , .I tried to pray, but the question came to me "Are you willing to give up sin and just come to God's conditions ?" I said at last, "Lord I accept Jesus as my Saviour, I give myself to Thee wholly and forever." I had no great fear -I had no great joy - but there was an inward feeling that the great transaction was done. ..I was a complete stranger in the locality and my heart would sometimes say "Nobody knows what you have done in the sight of God - you had better retreat before you confess, you are sure to fall away ". However, I prayed and prayed and held fast. I learned from the Bible which I had now begun to earnestly study that Jesus could keep me and I was determined to confess Christ by joining the Church. That was the time I should have been baptised, but I had heard nothing of the ordinance then. I have never once doubted but that this was the turning point in my history. I have far greater joy now than I had then. I was really happy first, but I was somewhat grave, from a deep sense of the responsibility resting on me as one who had named the name of Christ.' (Notes and References 1.)

During this period David was briefly associated with the Methodist Church. The sudden termination of this relationship is described in a letter published many years later after he had been criticised for allegedly misunderstanding the character of Methodist rules. After describing his experience with the Wesleyans he concluded: 'Thus my short connection with the Society terminated and my eyes were made wide open to the fact that I was not a Wesleyan, never had been a Wesleyan and never could be a Wesleyan.' (Notes and References 2.)

The Decision to Emigrate
Shortly after turning twenty-one in 1848 David turned his thoughts to distant horizons and became attracted to the idea of migrating to Australia. It is not known what sparked this interest in migration but it is significant that this was the period when John Dunmore Lang and Caroline Chisholm were seeking to entice respectable immigrants to the Australian colonies, particularly married couples and young people of marriageable age. Both Lang and Chisholm had published pamphlets and newspaper articles extolling settlement in Australia and had followed these up with personal recruitment campaigns in Britain. It is not known whether David's decision to migrate was influenced by either of these campaigners.

It is not known whether David deliberately chose to go to South Australia or whether that happened to be the destination of a convenient ship. It was, however, particularly appropriate that South Australia should have been David's destination. The architect of the colony, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, had stressed the importance of 'the family' as the basis on which the colony should be built and stressed the need for an equal number of the sexes in order to provide a source of labour and to secure a future population. He calculated that if his policy had been followed in NSW from 1788, the population forty years later would have been ten times more numerous than it was. (Notes and References 3.)
Colonel Torrens, another major influence in the development of the colony, saw Wakefield's scheme as invalidating Malthus's proposal that the working classes should delay their marriages. The following comment by Torrens in this regard would seem to be particularly apposite. 'In South Australia a large family would be a large source of wealth and happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.' (Notes and References 4.)

The Voyage
Two of David's sisters, Jane, twenty-four, and Anne, seventeen, decided to accompany him. The three young people booked passages in the steerage on the barque Derwent, which sailed from London on 26 September, 1848 with 105 passengers bound for Adelaide. The journey had scarcely begun when the younger sister, Anne, died and was buried at sea off the coast of Spain. The other sister, Jane, survived the journey but died at the early age of thirty-three some years after reaching Adelaide. This suggests that the state of health of the sisters, particularly Anne, could have been an important factor in their decision to accompany David. One possibility is that Anne may have been suffering from TB and that it had already reached an advanced stage at the time of their departure. As will be suggested later, there are grounds for believing that David, and perhaps Jane as well, may likewise have been suffering from the disease. There is evidence that some British doctors at that time may have been advocating life in the Australian climate as a cure for such forms of illness as this.

There is an unverifiable report that David conducted religious services on board the ship and gained the confidence and esteem of both passengers and crew. (Notes and References 5.) The ship finally reached Adelaide on 23rd January, 1849 after a journey of almost four months.