Walter B SKINNER
| First name | Walter B |
|---|---|
| Last name | SKINNER |
| Country of Origin | Scotland |
| Date of Birth | 29 / 06 / 1815 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1839 |
| Submitted by | Philip M Button |
Story
A young 24 year old single male with some trade skills as a carpenter Walter Bruce Skinner was obviously in search of adventure. News filtering back to Scotland from the fledgling colony of New South Wales must have appealed to him as he sought & obtained sponsorship as a ‘Bounty Emigrant’ with A B Smith & Company with the intent of taking up life ‘down under’.
Walter resided in Leith, the port of Edinburgh. It would have been easy for him to travel from there. However, his passage required him to travel overland to Liverpool, England where he was to join 250 other Bounty Emigrants aboard the 535 ton ‘Formosa’ under the command of Captain Alexander Adams.
The ‘Formosa’ set sail from Liverpool on 18 January 1839. It arrived at the Cape of Good Hope on 2 April 1839 & its final destination Ð Port Jackson Ð on 20 May 1839.
Walter Bruce Skinner made his way to the Monaro where on 15 May 1843 he & Jane Evans Coleman were to become the eleventh couple to be married by Rev Edward Smith at Christ Church, Queanbeyan. (Then recorded as Canbury, Lake George, in the Parish of Queanbeyan; now St John\’s Church Reid in the National Capital, Canberra.
Three months later in August 1843 Walter Bruce Skinner became the proprietor of the ‘Fleece Inn’ at Royalla which he later renamed the ‘Rob Roy Inn’. He probably did this knowing his true descendency as a McGregor a clan of which Rob Roy was its most famous member.
(History records that c1603 the Campbell Clan schemed under King James VI to usurp the McGregors with the aim of taking their land. They enlisted the aid of the Colquhouns who were encouraged to attack the McGregors. The McGregors hearing of this plot lay in wait for the Colquhouns who they ambushed killing some 400. King James VI was outraged & immediately outlawed the McGregors & put to death their clan chiefs. The family name McGregor was outlawed under punishment of death so all in the clan took up other surnames such as Skinner.)
It was a strange quirk that in the old country McGregors & Campbells were sworn enemies & yet here in a new young colony they put old hatreds behind them & went about building their new communities & futures.
When Jane was expecting their first child she became gravely ill in the presence of Mrs Campbell at Duntroon. Andrew Morton a shepherd working for Campbell was sent for & whilst he couldn\’t save the baby he saved Jane\’s life. (The nearest doctor was located at Goulburn. Andrew Morton later was to practice in & become the coroner in Queanbeyan Ð a position he held for some 30 years. Morton Street, Queanbeyan is named after him.)
Later when Jane again became pregnant the couple decided to move to Sydney where a daughter Ð Sophie Campbell Skinner – was born on 6 April 1847.
Walter & Jane were then encouraged to leave the Monaro & head in land & west to Wellington. He was then instrumental in the construction of Dundullimal homestead the oldest ‘Slab House’ still standing outside Dubbo. Later he was to establish what Henry Lawson referred to as a ‘ten mile inn’ on the Bogan River at Buddabadah between Dubbo & Nyngan in the almost geographic centre of New South Wales.
Walter & Jane went onto have 5 children Ð 3 daughters & 2 sons. Their descendants today stem from their third child & eldest son (the youngest son died in his infancy) John Smith Skinner. He was born on 12 March 1852 at Dundullimal homestead & at 23 years of age married Elizabeth McGarity on 20 July 1875
John Smith Skinner & Elizabeth had 8 children Ð 3 daughters & 5 sons. 2 sons died in their infancy while the 3 remaining sons went onto marry & procreate.
William James Skinner married Winifred Grace Hull in August 1905 & together had 13 children Ð 10 daughters & 3 sons. Arthur Bruce Skinner & his wife Ellen had just one son while the youngest of John Smith Skinner\’s son Charles Edgar married Nellie Pepper & had 3 daughters & 3 sons.
William James Skinner spent his entire work life in the employ of the New South Wales Government Railways rising from a young station hand to one of the first electric train drivers in Sydney.
Charles Edgar Skinner remained out west residing in Trangie. A generous man his entrepreneurial skills were to see him become prosperous & a man of considerable property through the tough years between the wars.
(See Ð ‘The Skinner family Ð From Edinburgh to Buddabadah & Beyond’ a family history by Philip M Button)