Who We Were

Transcription
WHO WE WERE.

For Private Circulation Only.

My brother Robert and myself, arrived in Australia in the 50's of the last century.

He landed in Sydney in 1853, and after a short stay in New South Wales, came over to Melbourne. I left Liverpool, in May, and landed here in August 1856; having come out in the clipper ship "Red Jacket".

As our families have now arrived at manhood and womanhood; are pushing their own way in the world, and some of them have sons and daughters of their own: I thought it might interest them to know, who, and what, the men and women were, from whom we have come; and how in the dispositions of Providence, we were led to this Southern land.

Our parents paid little attention to genealogy, and I am inclined to think they regarded such enquiries as trivial and of little consequence, in comparison with the weightier matteres of life and thought, which absorbed their attention.

The information we have, therefore, concerning our forebears, is meagre and incomplete; but as far as I recollect hearing our folks speaking of such matters; I have always understood the Wilsons came from the South West of Scotland,–probably the county of Ayr.

This and the adjoining counties, (with the exception of Galloway and Wighouseire) were peopled with an agricultural and predominating Saxon type of people. They were honest and peaceable folk, of a strong religious temperament; seeking no strife, independent in character, and marked in individuality, and concealing beneath their quiet exterior, much latent fortitude and determination.

This was the region that gave to Ulster its Presbyterian population: a race who still retain, after the lapse of nearly 3 hundred years,–the veracity and doggedness of the Scot; with the added fervour and sensitiveness of the Irishman. From here also went forth the Covenanters; with their Bibles in one hand,

and a sword in the other, to fight for civil and religious liberty; not for themselves only, but as the sequel proved, for posterity as well.

Brought up in the school of persecution and adversity as these men were, it was inevitable their religion should take a severe and perhaps gloomy form. Their lives were moulded in stern times, and their outlook upon life was consequently hard, but in spite of these limitations, they possessed a deeply religious spirit, and overruling sense of duty, a strong faith, and a saintly resignation. It was their indomitable determination, throughout the struggle for freedom of worship, that helped to lay the foundation of that civil and religious liberty, which their descendants enjoy; and indirectly made possible the great Anglo-Saxon expansion of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The history of our Presyterian forefathers, can only be interpreted justly, through an intimate knowledge of the problems and prejudices they had to encounter; as well as a careful acquaintance with the social, political, and religious conditions under which they lived. It is only by such a process, that the magnitude of their trials and achievements can be rightly estimated; and a truthful appreciation obtained of the great and permanent work they accomplished.

Our paternal Grandfather, Robert Wilson, like his predecessors, obtained his living from the land; and brought up his family of three sons and a daughter in practical familiarity with all farming operations. What my grandfather was like in his appearance, I cannot say, as I never saw him; but my brother Robert remembers him on some occasion when he visited our Father and Mother at their house in Perth.

As different types of a family are indefinately repeated in subsequent generations; the probability is, that someone of ourselves, will bear, in physique, and temperament, an approximate resemblance to the manner of man he was. Be all this as it may, he was a man who had worked hard at his calling, and brought up

his family in the fear of God, according to the old fashioned Presbyterian or Puritan methods, which upbringing, was reproduced later in the life of his sons.

Robert Wilson had three sons and a daughter – the daughter, I believe, died in youth – Andrew, Ephraim, and William, and it may be mentioned here that these Christian names Robert, Andrew, and William, were names that had been quite familiar in previous generations, and were in constant use in the various branches of the family: varied occasionally as was the Puritan custom, with a name taken from the Old Testament – as in the case of "Ephraim". Of Robert Wilson's three sons, Andrew was a manufacturer in Glasgow – that is one who employed weavers to weave cotton goods, for the home and export trade of the town. This was a very old and important industry in Glasgow, and along with the West Indian Trade, laid the foundation of that city's prosperity.

From what I have heard my Father say, Andrew was in a fairly prosperous way at one time. He was a prominent local Freemason, which in these days especially, gave great scope to the social side of his nature; a fact that did not tend to his continued prosperity, or the betterment of his life. He died, I believe, comparatively young, and leaving no issue behind.

Ephraim, the second son of Robert Wilson, was a man of pronounced individuality; was possessed of a cheery optimistic temperament – of a bluff, but cordial manner, had a practical mind, and adventurous disposition.

His youth was passed in stirring times, for Napoleon and his invinsible armies, were passing over Europe like a tornado; dethroning Kings, and treatening the peace and liberties, of all European peoples. Great Britain herself was engaged with a life and death struggle with the unprincipled ambition of this brilliant man: it is little wonder therefore, that such a personality, early exchanged the ploughshare for the sword, and became a soldier.

There was little opportunity in those days, and trying times for military training; the recruits, after a few months drill, were hurried off to the seat of war in the Peninsula; and encountered at once the realities of war.

He was attached to Lord Hill's division under the Duke of

Wellington, and followed its fortunes for a period about which he has left no personal record. He was a member of one of the attacking parties at the storming of Badajor; where he was shot through the leg, and invalided home. After returning from the army, the remainder of his life was spent in the ancient and historical city of Dunfermline, where he was well known and highly respected, and brought up a large family of sons and daughters. Of these sons, Robert, Thomas, John, William and Andrew, have all passed away, as well as Agnes and Janet, two of the daughters, the third Annie (whom you all know), is the wife of my brother Robert, and happily is in excellent health.

My Father, William Wilson, the third and youngest son of Robert Wilson, settled in Perth when I young man, and married Janet, the second daughter of David Garrick, a native and burgess of the ancient city of Perth. He was a dealer in worsted and woolen materials, and his place of business was in the High Street, adjoining what was called the Parliament Close, so called, because the ancient parliament of Scotland had been held in the immediate neighbourhood, when Perth was the Capital.

This business he pursecuted for many years, and by the industry of himself – and frequently of my Mother as well – they raised themselves to a comfortable condition, and lacked nothing that was really necessary in the simple economy of their lives.

Our Faather was a man of strong religious personality, and he never failed to commend, by task, precept, and example, the principles of Christianity to his children.

It should be said however, that the tone and type of religion in these days, was hard and uninteresting; more particularly to young persons, who felt the bouyant spirits of youth, confined and restricted within limits that became irksome, and difficult to obey, without frequent outbursts of rebellion. Old Testament theocracy lay at the root of the Christian conception, and the wider sweep, and spiritual liberty of the New was not so clearly grasped then as now.

A man of such spiritual characteristics as my Father; naturally found his place in a section of the Presbyterian Church, that had kept alive, and perpetuated the faith and zeal of