Walter Hughes

Plaque on former residence of Sir Walter Watson Hughes on Mid Shore at Calman’s Wynd, Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland.

Sir Walter Watson Hughes (22 August 1803 – 1 January 1887), who before his knighthood was frequently referred to as "Captain Hughes", was a pastoralist, public benefactor and founder of the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

Early life Hughes was born in Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland, the third son of Thomas Hughes and his wife Eliza, née Anderson. Hughes passed Spring Vale to his nephew James McKinnon Richman, and there C. A. Sobels began making wine, which was marketed in Adelaide by Hermann Büring. Sobels and Büring subsequently purchased the estate.

Hughes suspected land on which he kept sheep contained mineral deposits and informed his shepherds to look for minerals.

He died at his home on 1 January 1887

Legacy The coastal town of Port Hughes was named in his honour.

Family On 22 September 1841 Hughes married Sophia Richman, eldest daughter of John Henry Richman, who arrived in South Australia with his family aboard Thomas Harrison in February 1839. They had no children together. He began a relationship with an Aboriginal woman (Mary Jane Narungga/Moor/Wanganeen) who gave birth to Walter Hughes's son John Sansbury in 1854.

Hughes was an uncle of Sir John James Duncan, and an ancestor of Adam Goodes.