Barrow emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, in the hope that a change of climate would be beneficial to the health of his invalid wife, arriving in September 1853 on the "Hannah Maria" with his wife and four children, and obtained a position in the office of the "South Australian Register". He also did work on the literary side and, when Andrew Garran went to Sydney, succeeded him as principal leader writer. He began preaching to an Independent congregation which met at "Maesbury House", the residence of John Roberts in Kensington, South Australia. The Clayton Chapel (later Clayton Congregational Church) was built for him, but though an excellent preacher, Barrow was unsure whether his real work lay in church life, and he resigned his pastorate in 1858 to enter the South Australian House of Assembly as the member for East Torrens.