John Robertson (pastoralist)

John Robertson (ca.1808–1880) was a Scottish-born pastoralist in Australia, remembered today for his mansion Struan House, south of Naracoorte, South Australia.

For John Holland Robertson and his two pastoralist brothers in South Australia, see Robertson brothers (pastoralists).

History

Robertson was born in 1808[1] or 1809[2] in Dunachton, Invernesshire, the son of John Robertson and Mary "May" Robertson (née McBain).[1]

He emigrated to Australia, arriving in Hobart in 1831[2] and moving to Sydney in 1838 on the Saint George with his brothers William and Duncan, Duncan's wife Ann and their three children.[1]

He and brother William settled on a property they called Struan Station in Victoria on the River Wannon in the vicinity of modern Coleraine and Merino. It was around then he acquired the nickname "Poorman Robertson", perhaps from his appearance which contrasted sharply with that of Henty, a rival landholder in Portland, Victoria.[2] In 1852 their elder brother Angus joined them and took over management of Struan. William settled on another of their properties Wando Vale, and John moved to Mosquito Creek near Naracoorte, on an area variously known as Mosquito Plains and Robertsons Plains, where he built a succession of three homes, culminating in the magnificent Struan House in 1875. He purchased further land at Wrattonbully and Elderslie, totalling over 500,000 ha.[2]

Struan House and some 500ha of its original property is now owned by South Australian Department of Agriculture as its regional headquarters.

Family

John Robertson married Susan Ann Tait Cetwill Fraser [1] or Frazer[2] from Inverness at Portland, Victoria in 1855. They had nine children.


gollark: Stuff isn't particularly self-descriptive a lot of the time. Not as much as comments and stuff make it.
gollark: Combined with the example code, it's usable, but vaguely annoying.
gollark: It briefly describes jua, mentions the available non-websocket API calls, then has a short websocket-y code example which seems to miss a few important features.
gollark: The build process would be a bit annoying, though.
gollark: Good idea.

References
  1. http://www.swvic.org/merino/robertson-john.htm
  2. http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/aghistory/left_nav/dept_of_agriculture_as_an_organisation/locations/struan/history_of_struan
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.