ty ranges as a home during the summer months.
He took up some hundreds of acres in what was at that time bush country
up the heights to the north of Mount Lofty. I do not know whether
Norton's Summit, in the neighbourhood of which he purchased the land, was
so named when he built his comfortable home at Morialta. The entrance
gates into that beautiful domain are just past the village which bears
the name Norton's Summit. The Hon. John Baker was a politician, but he
was also a sportsman and a horse breeder. I think I am right in stating
that he bred that good horse Don Juan, which started the "King" of
Australian bookmakers, Joe Thompson, in his triumphant career. Not to
know Joe Thompson in those days in Australia meant not to know Australia.
He was the leviathan of the turf, or at least, he became so, and a keen
sportsman he was, too. Of all sports horse racing has always the pride of
place in Australia, though others flourish there.

To Mrs. John Baker, Mr. Baker's widow, I owe a deep debt of gratitude.
From the time I first arrived in Adelaide she made me welcome at
Morialta. Her eldest son, who later on became Sir Richard Baker,
President of the Legislative Council of South Australia, was a good sport
and a true friend of mine up to the time of his death.

I believe that it was his father who established the first pack of hounds
in South Australia. The kennels were at Morialta. At the time I am
writing of, Allen Baker, a younger brother of Sir Richard, was Master. I
was his best man on his marriage day. I remember it so well, though it
was so long ago. He was quite nervous about the whole thing, as he called
it, the evening before. I tried to cheer him up. He told me that he
particularly wished the clergyman to cut the service as short as
possible, and I was on no account to let him "make a speech." I duly
warned the clergyman in the morning, and he took the hint. I fortified
Allen with a small bottle of champagne just before the ceremony, which
took place at the church at Mitcham. He just got through it, and, as soon
as he got out of the church, he jumped up into the four-wheeled dogcart
that was waiting for him and, taking hold of the reins, with his pretty
bride beside him, drove away as happy as a bird. His nervousness had
disappeared.

Perhaps the most enjoyable event of the year in Adelaide was the occasion
when the Hunt Club Races took place. The meeting was held at the close of
the season, and a right merr