David Edgar, an elder brother of my paternal great-great grandfather, Halbert, was the first of the Moffat Edgars to come to Australia. He left Leith, Scotland, in the ship North Briton (Britain in some lists) commanded by Captain Fyans but when the vessel reached Hobart on 15 December 1838, he became aware of the then glowing reports of the newly settled Port Phillip District and continued on to what was later to become the Australian State of Victoria.
After working on several properties in the area, he
took up Squatters
(Depasture) Licences in the Portland Bay District in July and September
1842. He soon realised that times were changing and that unless he
purchased land there was a good chance of losing it under the proposed
new Land Act. His future wealth and influence were based on this
realisation and his ability to purchase shares in properties. Some of
these are detailed in the New South Wales State Archives: Reel 1123,
Item2/7850 - David Edgar, Area Portland/Fitzroy River, 1846 to 1848.
David Edgar was born on December 18, 1812, at Moffat and baptised on December 21,1812 in Raecleugh, near Moffat.
"Miss Sarah O'Meara, of Portland, married Mr David Edgar, of the Bush Tavern, on May 21,1844."
David Edgar purchased an interest in the Bush Inn (Tavern? Are we going up or down market here) he was building at Second River (now Heywood) and for which a licence had been obtained. He stayed there from January 1842 until June 1849.
John Dunmore Lang D.D., in his book Phillipsland, or, The Country hitherto designated Port Phillip written in 1846, says (pp192-3) that after a bumpy journey by mail coach - "We were therefore ready for light refreshments on reaching our first halting place at a Bush Inn, kept by a respectable Scotsman by the name of Edgar twenty miles from Portland, due north". Also "- there is some good land on the Second River which Mr Edgar had partly cleared, and, I have no doubt, it will one day become the site of a considerable inland village. It is just the proper distance for one from the seaport. A Bush Inn in such a situation is a sure fortune to a man of steady habits, and I should say that Mr Edgar is, in a worldly point of view, a thriving man". ("Worldy point of view"! Is the good Doctor of Divinity hinting at some metaphysical shortcomings here?)
Owning
property and running pubs was not uncommon in the early days of the
family in Australia. Indeed, Lang also commented that "The number of
Scotchmen in this occupation (publicans) in Phillipsland is quite
remarkable". Click here for Inn location map
David was reputed to get on well with the local Aborigines despite being sworn in as a Special Constable in about 1841 to help the police
deal with Aboriginal theft of livestock (Arkley, 2000: p258). This was at the beginning of the Aboriginal "wars" by the four clans of the Gunditjmara people against incoming European pastoralists. A sense of Aboriginal inclusion continued with later members of the family helping to organise and finance the first Aboriginal cricket team to tour England.
David was responsible for encouraging and helping a number of members of the family in Moffat to come to Australia.
He became a very well known and important figure over the years and his life is well documented elsewhere.
For encyclopaedic information on him click Here
Halbert Edgar,
my great-great-grandfather, born 30 May 1823, at Moffat. and baptised June 1823 at Harthope,
married Margaret Burgess (born 20 November 1823) on 30 December 1844.
She was the daughter of John Burgess. Margaret was born at Moffat, and
died of "natural causes" at Errebendery Station, near Euabalong, New South Wales, on September
6,1887. She was buried by her eldest son, John, on September 9, 1887, in the cemetery on the property. Halbert had died 18 years earlier at Portland,
Victoria, on 29 November 1869. His death certificate said he had had an
enlarged liver of 2 months duration. I don't know what this diagnosis
means in 19th Century medicine. A local GP, Dr Graham Campbell, suggests that, as Halbert was involved with sheep, it is most likely to be hydatids, which can be a killer. In Victoria, for example, it killed at least 584 people in its ‘heyday’ years between 1862 and 1881. The symptoms could also indicate severe alcohol toxicity, cancer or physical damage among many other less likely causes.
He and Margaret
arrived in Australia in late 1853 or early 1854 and were accompanied by
their five young sons; John 8yo, William 6, Archibald 5, Robert 3 and
Halbert 1.
Coming as free settlers they probably would have been
encouraged and helped by Halbert's successful elder brother David but
the extensive recruiting literature sent to Scotland by the
Presbyterian Church may also have had an influence.
It is
believed that he first worked for a shoemaker when he arrived in
Portland (shoemaking was his original trade in Moffat). Very soon he
made his way to Pine Hills station situated on the Glenelg River, just
6 miles from Harrow. Mary, his first daughter, was only a baby when he
bought 2 allotments in Harrow in 1855. It is also believed that he had
also acquired his property "Minstrel Haugh" at about this time as the
obituaries of the first two children born in Australia (David, 1857 and
Margaret Tredwell, 1859) state that they were born at "Minstrel Haugh".
In
November 1857 he opened his first business in the town. It was a Boot
and Shoemaking store. During 1859 he had the Spur Inn built on this
same land and he stayed in the hotel business for a futher 10 years,
whilst at the same time running the station at Tarrayoukan. Hotels were
to figure largely in the next generation.
The Spur Inn was sold in 1869. Halbert could now devote his full attention to "Minstrel Haugh" which was seven miles south of Harrow and contained 1,542 acres. The sheep property had been cleared and otherwise improved with the addition of a wool shed, press, stables and stock and drafting yards. The homestead had 9 rooms, a cellar and of course a garden. Halbert did not live long enough to enjoy his property as he died (in Portland) on 29 November 1869. He had just celebrated his 46th birthday. His death was noted in the newspapers with the simple words "Halbert Edgar, brother of Mr D Edgar, also died on the 29th. So we tumble off the stage one after another".
During his years at Harrow,
Halbert became quite involved in local affairs and especially in the
development of a local school. On the 21 May 1855 Halbert was present
at a public meeting held to discuss ways of providing a school for the
children in the area, and at another meeting on 30 December 1862
Halbert and his brother David were among the gentlemen chosen to
supervise the affairs of the village school, known as Harrow Common
School. The school was conducted in the Harrow Presbyterian Church, a
brick building with a corrugated iron roof, by Mr William Bruce Ross.
There were 40 children enrolled at the school.
Unlike his brother, David, he was not good at keeping in touch with his parents. His father, John, complained in a letter to Walter at Pine Hills dated July 15, 1863 that he was used to getting correspondence from David or his family but "we seldom get a letter from James or Halbert and never John." (From Burnt Eucalyptus Bark by Nancie Edgar)
The family,
by now consisting of 5 sons (Robert died 1866) and 5 daughters stayed
on the property for a further 7 years following Halbert's death.
"Minstrel
Haugh" was put up for auction in October 1875. By now the property also
boasted a newly erected four roomed cottage, which was probably lived
in by John, the eldest son, who had by now married. The property was
passed in at the first auction so the family tried another auction in
June 1876. Once again it did not sell. As the family had bought
property in New South Wales they were anxious for a sale and so it was
sold privately in 1876. Like many of the Scottish pioneers of the
Western District of Victoria, these Edgars settled in New South Wales.
This emigration was caused by a combination of successive droughts and
the land selection law which encroached on the grazier's land. New
South Wales held opportunities for much larger holdings than did
Victoria. The new properties were close to Euabalong and were called
"Errebendery" and "Bulloak" as well as "The Willows" at Deniliquin.
Sadly, in the words of Jessie Roper in a letter in 1973, "the droughts
ruined them". Actually, most of the properties were gone by the mid
1930s. The Errebendery Station Cemetery also contains two unmarked graves of Edgar infants: Mary Alice Gertrude 1882, 2 years old and Margaret Jean died August 9, 1891 age unknown. Presumably they were the children of Margaret's eldest son John Edgar and his wife Alice Thomas.
Note: Er(r)ebendery is the Station name which appears on
much documentation but the local area and trig. station are spelt
Eribendery. I would be inclined to go with the official spelling as
Death certificates and such like are notorious for mistakes.