Robert Jamieson

Story

Robert Jamieson was born on 4th August 1812 in a humble farm house on ‘Castlemaddie\’ farm in a remote part of the Glenkens in the Parish of Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire, Southern Scotland. His father was Robert Jamieson (born 17/6/1776 died 26/7/1828) originally from Crawfordjohn parish, Lanarkshire and his mother, a very capable local lass called Mary Wallace (born 1788). Robert (born 1812) was one of twelve children and his father died suddenly when he was fifteen. When Robert was twenty-eight he decided to emigrate to Australia to join his younger brother William, who emigrated in 1838 (William sailed on the SS ‘Potentate’). Robert left Scotland with his share of his fathers modest estate and a loan of approximately £100 from his Uncle Richard Jamieson from ‘Wandel Mill\’ Farm, Wandel, Lanarkshire. Robert sailed on the SS ‘John Cooper\’ which left Greenock, Scotland on 14th September 1840.

The wooden sailing ship was copper-sheathed and fastened, was new and the quarters/cabins small and cramped. It gave the passengers and livestock an extremely rough voyage. Some of the livestock on board included the Carmichael families two draught horse stallions, a draught mare and cows to keep the passengers supplied with milk. The ‘John Cooper\’ was badly buffeted by strong winds in the Irish Channel and she lost her mast. They had to sail into a cove near Cork for repairs. Setting out once more on 29th October, they again ran into bad weather and on 6th November in the Bay of Biscay she was dismasted once more. This time she had to be towed into Lisbon, Portugal to be refitted, causing another three weeks delay. Roberts diary of his sea voyage describes many other encounters of rough seas and problems with the ships rigging. Other interesting events included a passenger called Peter McBride falling overboard and eventually being rescued; catching a six foot shark; fight between two crew members on new years day; getting stuck on a mud bank near Port Adelaide, South Australia; nearly leaving a passenger called Mr Spence behind and dealing with two stowaways when leaving Port Adelaide. Roberts first impressions of Australia are best expressed in his diary entry on 11th March, 1841 ‘Went up to Adelaide in the afternoon to see the place. It is beyond my expectation. It is a nice lying place with the hills in the distance, all wooded to the top’.

When they reached the heads of Port Phillip Bay, Victoria they encountered more difficulties. There was no pilot available so the captain had to go through as best he could. They ran aground outside ‘The Rip\’ (heads of Port Phillip Bay) and were stuck for some hours. They eventually arrived at Hobson\’s Bay on 4th April 1841. The voyage taking 6 months and 21 days when the average was 120 days.

Robert met up with his brother William in Melbourne and they ventured west and eventually settled a run (farm) on Darlots Creek at Tyrendarra near Portland in 1843. They called this farm ‘Castlemaddie\’ after the farm in Scotland. They ran cattle on this run and would have built and lived in a primitive wooden ‘Pioneers\’ hut. They sold this farm in 1848/49 and built a flour mill on the Barwon River at Fyansford, Geelong in 1849. They called the mill ‘Wandle Mill\’ after their Uncle\’s farm in Scotland. This was not a successful venture and they sold the mill in 1851 and once again returned to the Western District of Victoria and purchased the sheep farm ‘Eumeralla West\’ near the town of Macarthur. This farm had an established bluestone homestead and was a far cry from the primitive conditions in which the brothers would have lived in previously at ‘Castlemaddie\’. Robert returned to Scotland in 1853 and married in 1855 to Joanna Douglas Black (born 10/10/1823) from Stranraer, Scotland. They returned to Australia in 1856 on the SS ‘Severne’. Robert bought William out of the ‘Eumeralla West\’ partnership and William set sail with his flock of sheep to New Zealand. William lost many of his sheep during his voyage and his farming enterprise was not a success in NZ. He eventually settled back in Scotland and married at aged fifty-eight, but had no children. Robert and Joanna sold ‘Eumeralla West\’ in 1858 and bought the farms ‘Bolac Plains\’ in 1859 and ‘Stony Point\’ in 1881. Robert died in 1894 and Joanna in 1898. They are both buried at the Mortlake cemetery in Victoria. Their descendents still farm ‘Bolac Plains\’ and ‘Stony Point\’ today.

October 2007

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