Simpson Newland
Encyclopedia
Simpson Newland CMG (2 November 1835 – 27 June 1925), pastoralist, author and politician, was a pioneer in Australia who made significant contributions to development around the Murray River
. He was also an author of practical works and novels.
, son of Rev. Ridgway Newland and his second wife Martha, née Keeling.
His father, the Rev. Ridgway William Newland (1790–1864), was a Congregational minister at Hanley for twenty-two years. He was selected by the Colonial Missionary Society to form a settlement in South Australia
, and sailed in the Sir Charles Forbes with some thirty colonists, including his second wife Martha, an accomplished linguist and classical scholar, who cared for her three young children and five of Newland's first marriage. The party arrived in Adelaide in June 1839 and went on in the Lord Hobart to Encounter Bay
, where a large area of land was taken up.
The life was a hard one for the pioneers, and even when they succeeded in growing a crop of wheat
, there were no facilities for threshing
it or grinding it into flour. Sheep and cattle were procured and the family gradually prospered. A church was built at which the father held services, but he would accept no money for his ministrations.
Ridgway Newland also became a magistrate and was for many years chairman of the Encounter Bay district council. Everywhere looked upon as the leading man of his denomination. He was fatally injured when his coach capsized, and died at the age of 75 on 9 March 1864. A church was built in his honour at Victor Harbor, and Newland's Head and the Newland Bridge are named after him.
in New South Wales
some 50 miles from Wilcannia, and became more and more interested in the indigenous people
and the natural history of the country. He improved the breeds of his sheep and cattle, and by age 40 had become very prosperous. On 12 September 1872 at Buckanbee, New South Wales, he married Jane Isabella Layton.
George Debney was a leading furniture maker in Rundle Street and one of the first owners of the estate that was later known as Undelcarra. The estate stretched north from Second Creek, between Lockwood Road and Hallett Road up to approximately where Statenborough Street is now located. The Debneys lived on the property from the 1850s till 1877 when it was sold to Simpson Newland who significantly enlarged the house and called it Undelcarra.
Undelcarra belonged to Simpson Newland between 1876 and 1911. He is best known as author of the book Paving the Way but was also a pastoralist from the River Darling area where his Marra Station had an out-station named Undelcarra which is said to be Aboriginal for ‘under the hill with running water’.
The estate passed into the hands of Torrens Ward, solicitor from 1911–1919.
It was purchased in 1919 by Alfred Allen Simpson
of A. Simpson & Co whitegoods manufacturers. The house is still owned by his descendants.
Final subdivision was in 1969, but the house still stands in Undelcarra Road.
The gatehouse which is still on Lockwood Road near the bridge over Second Creek was converted into a private residence and the main driveway re-routed to have access from Undelcarra Road. The gates that are now seen there were originally on Glynburn Road at the end of the driveway to the house Erindale.
Other nearby streets include Debney Drive, Newland Road, Torrens Avenue (in Erindale), and Undelcarra Road.
in 1881 as member for Encounter Bay, and soon afterwards brought in a measure to build a north to south railway on the land grant system which was defeated.
In June 1885 he became treasurer in the Downer ministry but, finding the strain of his duties too much for his health, resigned the position a year later.
He took much interest in the development of the River Murray and revived the question of the north-south railway. He succeeded in getting a royal commission appointed to consider it, and as chairman of the commission personally examined the country as far north as Alice Springs. In two pamphlets, The Far North Country (1887) and Our Waste Lands (1888), Newland gave an account of his journey and his views on the possibilities of the districts traversed. In 1889 he visited England and while there heard of the discovery of rich ore
at Broken Hill. He had acquired an interest in the new field and this now became very valuable.
, for whose paper (The Advertiser) he had written a number of articles, he wrote his novel, Paving the Way, which embodied many of his experiences as a pioneer and with indigenous people.
He went to England again in 1893 and arranged for the publication of his book. It was released the same year and was given a good reception by the critics. A second edition was published in 1894 and it has since been several times reprinted. Newland also published a second novel, Blood Tracks of the Bush, in 1900, which was less successful than his earlier work, "partly because inferior, but also because he courageously and accurately portrayed horrific mass-murders of Aborigines by police and pastoralists. The public was not ready for such honesty."
, and the necessity for its being linked to the south by a railway.
In 1899 he visited England and obtained the promise of support from financial interests in London, and returning to Australia obtained parliamentary sanction for the construction of a railway on the land grant system in 1902. His pamphlet, Land-Grant Railway across Australia: The Northern Territory of the State of South Australia as a Field for Enterprise and Capital, was published by the government at the end of that year. In 1906 he again went to England and succeeded in floating a company to undertake the building of the line. On his return he found that a Labor
government under Thomas Price
had come into power, and as the policy of Labor was opposed to building lines on the land grant system, Newland realized that nothing could be done at the time.
, Sir Joseph Cook
, pledged £1,000,000 from the Commonwealth if each of the three states interested would spend a similar amount, which is what occurred.
Newland had many interests. In 1895–1900 and again in 1920–22 he was president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia
, and in 1906–23 president of the South Australian Zoological and Acclimatization Society. He deplored the European destruction of the environment and proposed that the Coorong area should be reserved for Aborigines and the land reafforested. In 1922 he was appointed C.M.G. (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
).
He had published a pamphlet in middle life, A Band of Pioneers, Old-Time Memories (2nd ed. 1919), which included an interesting account of the arrival of his family in 1839. This was incorporated in his Memoirs of Simpson Newland, written in the last year of his long life. It was completed on 6 June 1925 and showed him to be still in full command of his mental powers. He died three weeks later, but before he died he knew that it had definitely been decided to complete the north to south railway line; his other dream of a (sea-)port at the mouth of the Murray still awaits fulfilment.
Colonel Sir Henry Simpson Newland
DSO, CBE (1873–1969), their eldest son, was an accomplished surgeon known for his public works and as a founder of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Philip Mesmer Newland (1875–1916) was an Australian sportsman who excelled at Australian rules football, cricket and lacrosse. He played Sheffield Shield cricket for South Australia as a wicket-keeper and toured England with the Australian Test team in 1905. He played Australian rules football with the Norwood Football Club and captained Norwood's 1904 premiership winning team.
Major Victor Marra Newland
MC, OBE (1876–1953), their third son, had a distinguished military career, was a successful business man, a member of the stock exchange, and in the period 1933–38 represented North Adelaide for the Liberal and Country League in the House of Assembly.
Doctor Clive Newland (1878–1919), a graduate of London University, had a practice at Morphett Vale. He was killed in a railway accident, when the motorcycle he was riding collided with an uncoming train.
Ralph Dimmock Newland (1880–1933), their youngest son, represented South Australia at lacrosse.
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
. He was also an author of practical works and novels.
Ridgway William Newland
Simpson Newland was born on 2 November 1835 at Hanley, Staffordshire, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, son of Rev. Ridgway Newland and his second wife Martha, née Keeling.
His father, the Rev. Ridgway William Newland (1790–1864), was a Congregational minister at Hanley for twenty-two years. He was selected by the Colonial Missionary Society to form a settlement in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, and sailed in the Sir Charles Forbes with some thirty colonists, including his second wife Martha, an accomplished linguist and classical scholar, who cared for her three young children and five of Newland's first marriage. The party arrived in Adelaide in June 1839 and went on in the Lord Hobart to Encounter Bay
Encounter Bay
Encounter Bay is located on the south central coast of South Australia, some 100 km south of Adelaide, South Australia. It is named after the encounter on 8 April 1802 between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, both of whom were charting the Australian coastline for their respective countries...
, where a large area of land was taken up.
The life was a hard one for the pioneers, and even when they succeeded in growing a crop of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, there were no facilities for threshing
Threshing
Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain...
it or grinding it into flour. Sheep and cattle were procured and the family gradually prospered. A church was built at which the father held services, but he would accept no money for his ministrations.
Ridgway Newland also became a magistrate and was for many years chairman of the Encounter Bay district council. Everywhere looked upon as the leading man of his denomination. He was fatally injured when his coach capsized, and died at the age of 75 on 9 March 1864. A church was built in his honour at Victor Harbor, and Newland's Head and the Newland Bridge are named after him.
Early years
Simpson Newland was at first a sickly boy, but the open air life improved his health, and he became a a competent stockrider and bushman. His evenings were largely given up to improving his education with the help of his mother.Pastoralist and prosperity
In 1864 Newland took up station life on the Darling RiverDarling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...
in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
some 50 miles from Wilcannia, and became more and more interested in the indigenous people
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
and the natural history of the country. He improved the breeds of his sheep and cattle, and by age 40 had become very prosperous. On 12 September 1872 at Buckanbee, New South Wales, he married Jane Isabella Layton.
Undelcarra
In 1876, with three sons, they moved to Adelaide and bought a mansion at Burnside which they called "Undelcarra"; Newland continued to manage the stations from Adelaide.George Debney was a leading furniture maker in Rundle Street and one of the first owners of the estate that was later known as Undelcarra. The estate stretched north from Second Creek, between Lockwood Road and Hallett Road up to approximately where Statenborough Street is now located. The Debneys lived on the property from the 1850s till 1877 when it was sold to Simpson Newland who significantly enlarged the house and called it Undelcarra.
Undelcarra belonged to Simpson Newland between 1876 and 1911. He is best known as author of the book Paving the Way but was also a pastoralist from the River Darling area where his Marra Station had an out-station named Undelcarra which is said to be Aboriginal for ‘under the hill with running water’.
The estate passed into the hands of Torrens Ward, solicitor from 1911–1919.
It was purchased in 1919 by Alfred Allen Simpson
Alfred Allen Simpson
This article is about the South Australian family of manufacturers. For the British legal historian and author Alfred William Brian Simpson see A. W. B...
of A. Simpson & Co whitegoods manufacturers. The house is still owned by his descendants.
Final subdivision was in 1969, but the house still stands in Undelcarra Road.
The gatehouse which is still on Lockwood Road near the bridge over Second Creek was converted into a private residence and the main driveway re-routed to have access from Undelcarra Road. The gates that are now seen there were originally on Glynburn Road at the end of the driveway to the house Erindale.
Other nearby streets include Debney Drive, Newland Road, Torrens Avenue (in Erindale), and Undelcarra Road.
Politics and public life
He entered the House of AssemblySouth Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
in 1881 as member for Encounter Bay, and soon afterwards brought in a measure to build a north to south railway on the land grant system which was defeated.
In June 1885 he became treasurer in the Downer ministry but, finding the strain of his duties too much for his health, resigned the position a year later.
He took much interest in the development of the River Murray and revived the question of the north-south railway. He succeeded in getting a royal commission appointed to consider it, and as chairman of the commission personally examined the country as far north as Alice Springs. In two pamphlets, The Far North Country (1887) and Our Waste Lands (1888), Newland gave an account of his journey and his views on the possibilities of the districts traversed. In 1889 he visited England and while there heard of the discovery of rich ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
at Broken Hill. He had acquired an interest in the new field and this now became very valuable.
Author
On his return, encouraged by his friend Sir John Langdon BonythonJohn Langdon Bonython
-Early life:Bonython was born in London in 1848, the second son of George Langdon Bonython and Annie MacBain. The family migrated to South Australia in July 1854. There, Bonython was educated at the Brougham School in North Adelaide...
, for whose paper (The Advertiser) he had written a number of articles, he wrote his novel, Paving the Way, which embodied many of his experiences as a pioneer and with indigenous people.
He went to England again in 1893 and arranged for the publication of his book. It was released the same year and was given a good reception by the critics. A second edition was published in 1894 and it has since been several times reprinted. Newland also published a second novel, Blood Tracks of the Bush, in 1900, which was less successful than his earlier work, "partly because inferior, but also because he courageously and accurately portrayed horrific mass-murders of Aborigines by police and pastoralists. The public was not ready for such honesty."
North-south railway line
On Newland's return to Adelaide at the end of 1893, he began collecting material for a pamphlet on the Northern TerritoryNorthern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
, and the necessity for its being linked to the south by a railway.
In 1899 he visited England and obtained the promise of support from financial interests in London, and returning to Australia obtained parliamentary sanction for the construction of a railway on the land grant system in 1902. His pamphlet, Land-Grant Railway across Australia: The Northern Territory of the State of South Australia as a Field for Enterprise and Capital, was published by the government at the end of that year. In 1906 he again went to England and succeeded in floating a company to undertake the building of the line. On his return he found that a Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government under Thomas Price
Thomas Price
Thomas Price was a stonecutter, teacher, lay preacher, businessman, stonemason, clerk-of-works, union secretary, union president and politician...
had come into power, and as the policy of Labor was opposed to building lines on the land grant system, Newland realized that nothing could be done at the time.
Other interests
He resumed his work on the development of a river port on the Murray, he had become a vice-president of the River Murray league in 1902, and the question was kept alive in 1903 and 1904 by holding public meetings. On 28 July 1904 Newland was elected president of the league, and the necessity of developing the Murray was kept steadily before the public for many years. A great step forward was made in 1914, when the Prime Minister of AustraliaPrime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
, Sir Joseph Cook
Joseph Cook
Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG was an Australian politician and the sixth Prime Minister of Australia. Born as Joseph Cooke and working in the coal mines of Silverdale, Staffordshire during his early life, he emigrated to Lithgow, New South Wales during the late 1880s, and became General-Secretary of the...
, pledged £1,000,000 from the Commonwealth if each of the three states interested would spend a similar amount, which is what occurred.
Newland had many interests. In 1895–1900 and again in 1920–22 he was president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia- On 22 June 1883, the Geographical Society of Australasia started at a meeting in Sydney . Branches were formed in Victoria and Queensland in the same year . In July 1885 the South Australian Branch started...
, and in 1906–23 president of the South Australian Zoological and Acclimatization Society. He deplored the European destruction of the environment and proposed that the Coorong area should be reserved for Aborigines and the land reafforested. In 1922 he was appointed C.M.G. (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
).
He had published a pamphlet in middle life, A Band of Pioneers, Old-Time Memories (2nd ed. 1919), which included an interesting account of the arrival of his family in 1839. This was incorporated in his Memoirs of Simpson Newland, written in the last year of his long life. It was completed on 6 June 1925 and showed him to be still in full command of his mental powers. He died three weeks later, but before he died he knew that it had definitely been decided to complete the north to south railway line; his other dream of a (sea-)port at the mouth of the Murray still awaits fulfilment.
Family
He died on 27 June 1925 at North Adelaide, survived by his wife and three of their five sons. His ashes were taken to his spiritual home, Victor Harbor, for burial.Colonel Sir Henry Simpson Newland
Henry Simpson Newland
Colonel Sir Henry Simpson Newland CBE DSO was a distinguished Australian surgeon.The Henry Simpson Newland Prize is named in his honour...
DSO, CBE (1873–1969), their eldest son, was an accomplished surgeon known for his public works and as a founder of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
Philip Mesmer Newland (1875–1916) was an Australian sportsman who excelled at Australian rules football, cricket and lacrosse. He played Sheffield Shield cricket for South Australia as a wicket-keeper and toured England with the Australian Test team in 1905. He played Australian rules football with the Norwood Football Club and captained Norwood's 1904 premiership winning team.
Major Victor Marra Newland
Victor Marra Newland
Major Victor Marra Newland, MC, DCM was an Australian army officer and politician.He served in the Second Boer War and with the King's African Rifles in World War I. He retired with the rank of major...
MC, OBE (1876–1953), their third son, had a distinguished military career, was a successful business man, a member of the stock exchange, and in the period 1933–38 represented North Adelaide for the Liberal and Country League in the House of Assembly.
Doctor Clive Newland (1878–1919), a graduate of London University, had a practice at Morphett Vale. He was killed in a railway accident, when the motorcycle he was riding collided with an uncoming train.
Ralph Dimmock Newland (1880–1933), their youngest son, represented South Australia at lacrosse.