James Williamson was born in 1816 at Viewbank, Trinity, 2 miles from Edinburgh, he was the son of James and Isabella Williamson, his father was a writer to the signet and solicitor in Edinburgh.
Young James father had died in 1832 leaving his mother Isabella with 8 daughters and son James, named the son and heir in later legal papers. James went to Edinburgh University and after completing his education went to India while still a very young man, where he worked for a merchant (probably the East India Company) and also as an interpreter. Ill health saw him leave India and travel to Australia on the Strathisla with horses as cargo. He arrived in Sydney about 1837, he and his cousin brought stock overland – where they set up a station at Seymour – in country that had never been explored before by Europeans – he was one of the first overlanders, an early explorer and original pioneer.
On a subsequent trip overland in 1839 he brought horses down to Melbourne – on going to the office of Campbell (of Campbell and Woolley) he was told someone was enquiring after him, he was astonished to find his mother and to learn his sisters were also in the colony. Mother Isabella and 6 daughters had arrived on the Superb as paying passengers, with a number of families and friends from Edinbugh. Isabella had taken a few years off her age to enable her to be allowed to travel to Australia – she was actually 60 when she arrived in December 1839.
Young James set about building a house for his mother and sisters at Viewbank – named after their home in Scotland. It would have been no mean feat for a man in his early 20’s, an overlander with no wealthy family or pastoral company behind him and as can be seen later, he struggled, as did many others in the 1840’s, to manage to pay for such a large property. It is interesting to read Don Garden’s History of Heidelberg regarding the many who settled at Heidelberg, he describes how many struggled there during the depression of the 1840’s. Another who wrote of those times and that place, Rolfe Bolderwood in ‘Old Melbourne Memories’, he stated “if father (Sylvester Brown) had only settled in the township of Melbourne the family would not have faced their many hardships” So it was for the Williamsons.
However James Williamson repaid his debts, he was never made insolvent and obviously he was able to provide some sort of home for his mother and his sisters at Viewbank. The women of the family were described in glowing terms in historical books by both Selby and William Westgarth – as a group who, with a few other families of the same ilk, added much to the stability of early Melbourne society – “virtuous women who wrestled the adverse circumstances of pioneer life” was one description. There is a newspaper cutting of the time which said ‘the Governors La Trobe’s Ball at which the beautiful Williamson girls were given the title Belles of the Ball, the same being held at Government house.’
The girls married some of the “leading men of the time in Victoria” and became “mothers of representative men in Melbourne”. We have to forgive the absence of female achievement being noted – except for being wives and mothers in that era – but their influence on early Melbourne institutions would have been quietly managed. Mother Isabella was one of the first five women to contribute to the Women’s Hospital Building Fund. She is now buried at Fawkner Pioneer Cemetery – being one of the few transferred from the original site of the Old Melbourne Cemetery – now the Victoria Market.
Some of the sisters of James Williamson married at Viewbank Heidelberg –
Elizabeth married David Ogilvy there on September 28th 1841 – David arrived on the Superb with the family. He was appointed by the British Government to represent the Crown in legal affairs in Victoria, he was the first president of The Law Institute and President of The Presbyterian Church of Victoria, with offices in Queen Street Melbourne He, with others established Scotch College. Ogilvy built Airlie House – the building is still able to be viewed as one of our stately homes – his mother in law Isabella died there in 1850.
On the 31st August 1842, at Viewbank Catherine married Alexander Skene. Skene also had travelled to Australia on the Superb he was educated at Kings College and the University of Aberdeen, in Victoria he became government surveyor in 1848 – his pioneering work was acknowledged when he became district surveyor of Geelong, then acting surveyor general in Melbourne. Much of Victoria was mapped under his guidance.
Another sister had stayed in Scotland living in Viewbank with her solicitor husband, brother of David Ogilvy, and Margaret Lyon Williamson married Rev. George Mackie at the home of her sister Catherine in Geelong – Rev Mackie was elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria he actively supported many causes too numerous to list here but can be found on the web but among them was the Grand United Order of Gardeners (great that such an organization existed) and the YMCA .
Jane Williamson married Captain John Cain – their story has been documented lately in the saga of the oldest house in Williamstown also on the web – John Cain was a friend of Georgiana McCrae – she mentions his wedding to Jane in her diaries. Another called Mary married a farmers called Edward Wood, one more called Georgiana we are yet to find. These women were a part of Viewbank too and although their stay was brief some of the artifacts found on the Viewbank site could possibly be from their time.
The author has a photo of : Elizabeth Ogilvy nee Williamson daughter of Isabella Williamson, sister of James – she was married at Viewbank in 1841 to David Ogilvy. Photo courtesy of Colin Darby.
By Barbara Reily with assistance by Doreen Woodman
June 2014
