Obituaries Australia

Mr. Richard William Johnston, who died at Queanbeyan at the age of 98 on Monday, was a member of one of the oldest pioneer families in New South Wales.

He was the youngest son of the late Mr. John Johnston of Gunnedah and of Hartsell and Clydesdale stations, Singleton. His grandfather, Mr. Andrew Johnston, came to Australia from Scotland with the first fleet of free settlers in 1789, and took up land on the Hawkesbury. He named his property "Portland Head."

Mr. Richard Watson's [sic] early years were spent on his father's properties. He married Miss Ethel Morgan, a daughter of Mr. Richard Squire Morgan, of Sydney, and a sister of Messrs. T. S. Morgan and Frederick Morgan, the original owners of Mount Morgan mine.

On his retirement, Mr. Johnston went to live in Sydney, and for the last 16 years he has been a well known figure in Vaucluse, where he lived with one of his daughters, Mrs. W. Tomkinson, of King's Road. Until a few weeks ago, when he became ill, he was an astonishingly active man for his great age. His sight and hearing were good, and he was able to work in his daughter's garden and do carpentry in a way which might have been envied by many men of half his age.

In addition to Mrs. Tomkinson, he is survived by six other daughters. His, wife and two sons predeceased him. The funeral was held privately at Queanbeyan.