Introduction

This story concentrates on the life of David Badger, particularly the period from his arrival in Australia in 1849 at the age of 22 to his death at Echuca in 1890 at the age of 63. What is known about his forebears is described by Colin Badger in the Foreword. Information relating to the elder sons during the relevant period is included in the text, and summaries of the lives of each of the sons who survived infancy and childhood are given in Appendix D.
A major source of information on David Badger's ministerial career has been an unpublished manuscript dated January 1973 and entitled 'David Badger: Baptist Pioneer (1827-90)' by Rev. G.D. Crabb. Mr. Crabb has kindly given his consent for the use of his manuscript and I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to him. Like Mr. Crabb, I have relied heavily on information derived from records held in the library of Burleigh College, Adelaide and permission for the use of this material is also gratefully acknowledged. Useful supplementary information has been provided in memoirs by some members of the Badger family, particularly Colin Badger and Leila Wilson, without whose enthusiastic assistance the project could not have been completed. I also wish to acknowledge the sterling assistance rendered by Dougal Brown in steering the manuscript through the publication stages.

April 1985 , Sydney

Donald G. Badger