- Robert Campbell (Australian landowner)
Robert Campbell (
28 April 1769 –15 April 1846 ) wasSydney 's first merchant and a pioneering land owner.Campbell was born at
Greenock ,Inverclyde ,Scotland and moved toIndia as a young man. In India he and an older brother were partners inCampbell, Clark and Company , merchants ofCalcutta . Campbell moved to Sydney in 1798 to open a branch of his business. He subsequently built Campbell's wharf and developed a large business as a general merchant. After the arrival of GovernorWilliam Bligh in August 1806, Campbell's high character led to his being appointed treasurer to the public funds, naval officer, and collector of taxes, and, there being no bank at Sydney in 1807, the gaol and orphan funds were deposited with Campbell on its undertaking to pay interest at five per cent.cite web
first=Percival
last=Serle
authorlink=Percival Serle
publisher=Dictionary of Australian Biography
title=Campbell, Robert (1769-1846), first Sydney merchant
url=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogCa-Ch.html#campbell1
accessdate = 2007-02-13] In November 1801 he married Sophia Palmer (1777-1833).cite web
title =Campbell, Robert (1769 - 1846)
publisher =Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010190b.htm
accessdate = 2007-02-13]In 1809 Campbell chartered a ship the "Brothers" and sent it on a sealing expedition to New Zealand under Captain Robert Mason. He probably intended it to go to
Solander Island inFoveaux Strait but instead, in November, it landed a gang on two islets on what is now the coast of the city ofDunedin on the south east coast of the South Island. These are the first identifiable Europeans explicitly recorded as landing in the area although others probably preceded them. The gang included the ex-convictWilliam Tucker . When the "Brothers" returned to relieve its men it found only him and Daniel Wilson atOtago Harbour where it anchored on May the 3rd 1810. Again this is the first explicit and specific reference to a European ship entering the harbour although others had probably preceded it. Tucker would later return and become the first European to settle in the area. [Peter Entwisle, "Taka: A Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784-1817", ISBN 0-473-10098-3 Dunedin: Port Daniel Press, 2005,pp.53-54 & 63-64.] While it was no part of his intention Campbell was thus instrumental in bringing the territory which is now Dunedin into the European sphere.Campbell's ship the "Sydney" was lost off the coast of India while chartered to the government. In compensation he was granted convert|4000|acre|km2|0 of land and 710 sheep. In 1825 James Ainslie established a sheep station for Campbell in the area where
Canberra is now situated. Robert named the property Duntroon after his ancestralDuntrune Castle ,Argyll and Bute , Scotland. In later years Campbell provided half the cost of the church of St John the Baptist in its original form.In December 1825 Campbell was appointed a member of the first
New South Wales Legislative Council .cite web
title =Mr Robert (1) Campbell (1769 - 1846)
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/56bfd1bfb0b4cab5ca256e6a00149b6e!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2007-02-13 ] In January 1830 he was a member of the committee which recommended that King's schools should be founded at Sydney and Parramatta, and as evidence of his continued high standing in the community, when the Savings Bank of New South Wales was founded in 1832 it was found that Campbell had deposited with him £8000 belonging to convicts, and £2000 belonging to free people. He was allowing seven and a half per cent interest on these deposits. Campbell retired from the legislative council and from public life in 1843, and in 1844 his name was included in a list of those considered eligible for a proposed local order of merit.In 1910 with the creation of the
Australian Capital Territory the government acquired Duntroon for the creation of the Royal Military College. The original Duntroon homestead (though later extended) is now the officers mess in the Royal Military College. [Australian Department of Defence. [http://www.defence.gov.au/army/rmc/RMCA/RMCA-History.asp History of the Royal Military College] ]Campbell had seven children, John, Robert, Charles, Sophia Ives, Sarah, George and Frederick, several of whom were members of the
Parliament of New South Wales .References
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