Archibald Walker
| First name | Archibald |
|---|---|
| Last name | Walker |
| Country of Origin | Scotland |
| Date of Birth | 1821 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1839 |
| Submitted by | Jann Walker |
Story
WALKER Brothers: ARCHIBALD and JOHN
These brothers were born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1821 and 1829. Archibald arrived in Australia at Port Phillip aboard the Midlothian in 1839 after a 3 month journey. Scotland was changing in the years from 1832 to 1846 and began to expand business in Australia, exporting pig-iron and importing Australia\’s wool. With availability of assisted or unassisted passages many middle class and working class Scots were emigrating. In 1836 economic conditions were worsening, especially in the Highlands and people were finding it difficult to make a living. A Bounty system was formed and with many people near destitution, over the next few years there was an exodus to Canada and Australia. The ships carried many farm labourers, craftsmen, domestic servants and their children.
Archibald was engaged by a Victorian squatter as a Shepherd for £20 year. After 3 years and given nothing but his damper and mutton rations, as his employer became insolvent, he went to work at Koran Station in thickly scrubbed land at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges. Whilst working here, he was fortunate to find a young woman and her 3 children who had been missing for 8 days, almost starved to death. Archibald married an Irish orphan nursemaid, Nancy (Ann) Carruthers at Wannon, Victoria in 1852. She had arrived in Geelong on the Labuan in 1849 and had been engaged by Mr Stead to work at Ballan. Archibald and Ann moved to work on Elderslie Station near Naracoorte, leaving for a while when gold fever struck them, but returned when their luck ran out. He then began carting wool by bullock wagon to Geelong. Archibald it seemed, was dogged by bad luck, losing out on wages at his first job, losing his savings in the goldfields; he had £70 stolen after delivering his wool load at Geelong, and on that same day, someone else stole his horse. Not a good beginning.
John may have been enticed by the promise of the rich, fertile lands of Western Victoria, and he arrived at Port Phillip in 1855 on the Aberfoyle. John married Eliza Creek who had arrived also in 1855, on the Cairngorm at Portland, Victoria. They didn\’t marry until 1864, when he was 34 and she was a widow at 25, with 2 children. They were married at Archibald\’s house in Mt Gambier, South Australia. Archibald had worked on Victorian stations at Strathdownie, Ardno and Kaladbro. He bought land at Kaladbro, later settling near Mount Gambier. John and Eliza first lived at Suttontown, S.A. and then purchased property at Strathdownie, which after John death, was taken over by his son John in 1897.
Archibald and John lived in hard, difficult times, clearing, building, fencing, stocking, their properties and being long distances from other people and supply sources. They had to grow their own food supplies, manage some sort of schooling for their children and any medical emergencies. Some of the children probably didn\’t learn to read and write until they were near adulthood when they enrolled at a tiny school which opened nearby.
Archibald and Ann brought up 7 of their 9 children Ð Elizabeth died aged 17, 1875 and Joseph Cadwallader died at 4 years of age, also in 1875. Their other children were Ð Ellen who married William Hunt in 1877; Margaret Leah who married Charles Frederick Green in 1880; John Alexander, married Sarah Martha Brampton Millard in 1887; Archibald James who married Hanmar Mason in 1888; Henry married Lucy Millard (a step-sister to Sarah) in 1886; Alice Ann grew to adulthood but died in 1894, aged 25 years; and Isabella Jane Gertrude.
John and Eliza had 5 children, Archibald, John, Margaret, Eliza and Ellen. Archibald married Janet (Jessie) Turner in 1891; John married Jessie\’s sister, Barbara in 1895; Margaret married James Harcourt Kelly in 1894; Eliza was unmarried, dying in 1943, as was Ellen (Nellie) who died in 1950. These two ladies lived together in Mt Gambier in a house called ‘Netley’ which is now refurbished as a rental holiday cottage.
Their families have spread throughout Australia, but many remained in the South East of South Australia, with a majority farming or fruit-growing. From the parents in Scotland, Archibald and Helen (nee Walker), we have found in Australia so far, at 2008, well over 3000 descendants.