The Wilson Clan from BerwickshireMargaret Wilson (1800 - 1873) James Chard's mother-in-law. Although Margaret grew up on the family's Blackerstone farm, her teenage years were spent with her eldest sister Marion (now Mrs Alexander Rennie) in Edinburgh New Town. Here, like her elder brothers, she received a secondary school education at Edinburgh Saint Cuthberts whilst caring for (and being Godparent to) her sister's three young children. The Rennie menfolk managed a Slater and Glazier business whilst the women looked after wayfarer lodgings at various addresses in Rose Street. It was here that Margaret met her future husband, Argyllshire vintner, Adam Dowie. In the early 1830's the couple moved to the township of Glencruitten, 2 miles east of Oban in the highland parish of Kilmore and Kilbride, Argyllshire, where they married and raised three children. Adam Dowie (1808 - 1861) James Chard's father-in-law. Like his father before him, Adam began work as a young lad at the Oban distillery [1]; a position which saw him classified as a “vintner master” in adulthood. Around 1843, at the age of 37, Adam sustained a serious work related injury to his right leg resulting in a wound that refused to heal leaving him with a suppurating ulcer [2]. This severe handicap ultimately cost him his job at the distillery and, in an attempt to seek a medical resolution to his problem, Adam moved his family to Edinburgh where his experience in the wine and spirit trade saw him become a tavern keeper. The 1851 Scottish census [3] records Adam and his family residing in Edinburgh High Street (now the historically acclaimed “Royal Mile”). David, his 16 year old son, is employed as a van driver (probably for the family business) and 14 year old George, a cooper’s apprentice, whilst 11 year old daughter Ellen had commenced secondary school at Edinburgh Saint Cuthberts. Although the family business prospered Adam’s leg wound deteriorated with the best medical opinion of the day suggesting that the only chance of healing might come from exposure to a warmer and drier climate. So as the colder months of 1853 approached, Adam was convinced that – for himself and his family - a better life was to be had in colonial Australia. After all, his brother-in-law had been sending back glowing reports of the wonderful land opportunities, not to mention the constant newspaper accounts of gold “paving the streets”. So whilst Margaret remained in Edinburgh with David and Ellen, Adam, accompanied by 17 year old son George and two Patison nephews (14 year old George and 13 year old David), set sail [4] for colonial Victoria aboard HMS Tamora. |
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| Once their daughter had completed her secondary education in Edinburgh, Margaret, David and Ellen, together with Margaret's widowed sister Eleanora Patison and her children, and cousin John “Rogers” Mitchell gained passage aboard HMS Tay [5] bound for Australia and a reunion with their kinfolk. When Adam and son George arrived at Bryan O’Lynn station in the early months of 1854 accommodation was frugal to say the least. Whilst Adam's brother-in-law David had acquired some land, suitable family dwellings had not yet been established. Within the next months two small modest cottages were erected, one for David and his young Patison nephews on the northern banks of Drysdale Creek (to become known as Mary's Vale) and another for the Dowies on a 34 acre plot (lot 7A) adjacent to the main Belfast to Ballarat thoroughfare. When the Bryan O’Lynn Pre-emptive Selection became available following John Sanders’ death, the Wilson / Dowie partnership was formed to successfully bid for the prized estate. Little did either gentleman realise just how much this acquisition would expand in their lifetime. As well as acquiring 640 acres of prime grazing land the partners also retained Sanders’ postal licence and its incumbent responsibility. At this time all traffic was now favouring the new metalled road bypassing Sanders’ purpose built depot and Tozer's stables and as Dowie's residence was ideally situated at the crossroads of the main road and minor tracks to Lake Wangoom and Grassmere, Adam and David considered it the perfect location to set up a general store cum livery, completing the transformation just prior to Margaret's arrival with the younger children. Now with some extra hands to share the duties, the womenfolk and young George Dowie set about getting the merchandising business up and running whilst Adam and his brother-in-law began construction of a grand mansion on the hill above Tozer's old stables. Agricultural diversity abounded in Purnim at this time and whilst the Irish farming neighbours nurtured their potato plants and the Sommerville family dabbled with the district's first wheat crop [6], Adam Dowie decided to plant hops. Approximately 40 acres of Bryan O'Lynn land between the newly planned homestead and the creek was set aside for the master vintner to plant out. So successful were his results that decades later this valley would be referred to as “Hopfields”. The Bryan O'Lynn workforce quickly grew in number with the arrival of the Dowie's Mitchell nephews and local animal veterinarian James Chard, the latter immediately taking the eye of Adam and Margarets' 17 year old daughter, the couple marrying in 1857. James and Ellen were just days away from celebrating their third wedding anniversary when Ellen's father died. Clearly suffering and in poor health, Adam was however fortunate to enjoy two years with his Chard grandchildren, Thomas and Helen. Margaret's initial grief was eventually replaced with more Chard grandchildren and her younger son George's marriage and his children. Close links were maintained with Bryan O'Lynn with her eldest son David becoming its estate manager. Eight years his senior, Margaret survived Adam by twelve years finally succumbing to pneumonia in the winter of 1873. |
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| David Alexander Wilson Dowie (1835 - 1908) James Chard's brother-in-law (by marriage). David arrived at Purnim with his mother and sister in August 1855, not long after James Chard had become a Bryan O’Lynn employee. His arrival also coincided with that of his cousin James “Rogers” Mitchell who had been fossicking at the Castlemaine goldfields during the previous two years. Although five years younger than James Chard, he and the Scottish cousins had much in common; David sharing his experiences as a van driver [3] in Scotland, and James Mitchell espousing the hardships at the mines. The three however enjoyed a common interest that being a love for livestock - particularly the horses and the thoroughbreds especially, which was fortunate as their initial accommodation at Bryan O’Lynn was in the stable bunkhouse. Two years later, James Chard married David's younger sister Ellen with James Mitchell as his groomsman. Whilst the newlyweds took up residence in David Wilson's original cottage (now renamed Mary's Vale), David Dowie and James Mitchell bore more of the station's management and this increased further when David's father died in 1861. The lads idolised their uncle and cousin in equal measure and together provided the manpower for a successful business enterprise, both being in control at the time of David Wilson's death in 1867. Following Bryan O’Lynn's sale David Dowie took up a similar managerial position with the Pimblett family at Kurweeton Estate at Darlington. Richard Pimblett, a successful building contractor in Camperdown, had recently married Ellen Tracey, an innkeepers daughter from Castle Douglas Scotland. David Dowie and Ellen Tracey had much in common given they were the same age and had parents with the same common social standing back in the homeland. David Dowie remained a bachelor his whole life and lived with the Pimblett family until his death. His thirty year tenure as Kurweeton manager ceased when Richard Pimblett retired to Terang and upon his boss' death in 1898 took up a labouring position with the Terang General Storekeepers (Coy Bros.), the Pimblett's eldest daughter Mary having married Fred Coy six years earlier. David is buried in the Terang cemetery. |
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| George James Dowie (1837 - 1908) James Chard's brother-in-law (by marriage). George had barely turned 16 when he and his father arrived on David Wilson's Purnim doorstep in 1854. A scholar; not, the younger of the Dowie boys sought at the earliest possible age to follow his father and grandfather into the wine and spirit business, becoming a cooper's apprentice [3] at his uncle Robert Mitchell's wine cellars in Regent Terrace Edinburgh. For George the early Purnim days saw him labouring alongside his father to build the family dwelling and establish a rudimentary general store and it was only when his mother arrived did he see the opportunity to further his aspirations in the liquor trade. This came about when Melbourne victualler John Kavanagh (1810 - 1892) and his family established a similar residence / hostelry called The Bush Inn on a neighbouring plot of Purnim land. The Dowie and Kavanagh families were the first Purnim traders and along with David Wilson formed an association called the Purnim Farmers’ Town Common Committee [7]. This association became a family affair when George married nineteen year old Annie Maria Kavanagh in the autumn of 1863 - the ceremony being one of the first conducted in Warrnambool’s recently dedicated Catholic Church of St Joseph. Unlike his older brother David who chose the practical side of farming under James Chard's guidance, George displayed a merchants bent. Whilst mother Margaret and wife Annie handled the Purnim General store shopfront, George was the business trader and speculator. Initially with the General Store as his collateral, and the support (and probable financial backing) of his father-in-law, the Dowies purchased a good deal of surrounding acreage with his most significant acquisition being The Blackwoods - 112 acres of prime dairy and grazing land at Rosebrook - land that had formed part of James Atkinson's original 1843 Belfast Special Survey. George and Annie spent almost 30 years trading at Purnim with Annie being pregnant (almost continuously) for the first twenty. The couple raised 13 children, including twins. In the early 1890’s George and Annie “sold up shop” and leaving son Adam in charge of the family’s Purnim dairy farm, removed to a smaller property called Lyndhurst at Cassidy’s Bridge on Warrnambool's outskirts. Here they remained until retirement saw their final move to Koroit Street Warrnambool. George died in 1908 (just nine months after his brother David) leaving behind a substantial estate. Whilst all children inherited a sum of money, control of The Blackwoods at Rosebrook fell to eldest son Adam, who with his sons William and Vincent, carried on into the early 1920’s. After burying her husband in Warrnambool Annie abandoned country life to be closer to her widowed sister Mary Jane (Mrs O’Brien Butler) in East St Kilda. Annie's final years were spent with her daughter Mary Jane (Mrs William McLeod) in Shepparton where she died aged 89. Annie had survived husband George by 24 years. |
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| Ellen Marian Dowie (1839 - 1919) James Chard's wife. Ellen arrived at Purnim with her mother and brother David in August 1855. She was 16½ years old. Ellen and James Chard were married two months shy of her 18th birthday and remained attached to the Bryan O'Lynn family until 1865. During that time they had four Purnim born children. Their remaining lives were spent at Keilambete where they raised another seven. |
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