buy the two ships. However, the first ship – reported as "the largest wooden ship ever built in Australia" – was damaged on launching and failed to receive its necessary first-class certification. A saga of litigation followed, and the vessels, one stripped of usable timber, were burned in 1923. Kidman lost many thousands of pounds, but was reported to have said that his biggest regret was that the work of the superb axemen of the north coast forests, with their enthusiasm, craftsmanship and loyalty, all went for nothing. Kidman retired in 1927. At the time of his death in 1935, Kidman owned, or had a large interest in, land variously stated to have covered from to , the latter figure equating to 3.7 per cent of the area of Australia's mainland. On 68 separate stations were stocked about 176,000 head of cattle and 215,000 head of sheep. They comprised a vast network from both the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Fitzroy River in Western Australia down into South Australia near the Flinders Ranges and also across New South Wales. He was well served by his vision of drought-proofing his empire through growing and fattening cattle on the remote stations in the north and bringing them down the lines of stations along the great inland river systems to markets in the south, providing good feed and water on the way to sell them in top condition. Character Kidman was most at home around the campfire but comfortable with civic leaders. He animated extraordinary loyalty from his employees; working for Kidman was a "sort of badge of pride". Death Following a brief illness, Sidney Kidman died at his home at 76 Northgate Street, Millswood (now Unley Park), aged 78, on 2 September 1935. His body was interred at the Mitcham Cemetery in the presence of hundreds of mourners; his cortege extended for more than . He left most of his £300,000 estate to his family and to charities. Legacy Kidman donated his home in Kapunda, which he acquired around 1900 and called Eringa after Eringa Station, to the Education Department in 1921. It was used as the administration building for the Kapunda High School, later heritage-listed, and extensively renovated in 2011–12. The building was gutted by fire on the night of 29 March 2022, with extensive damage to the roof. The Adelaide suburb of Kidman Park was named in his honour. The