Obituaries Australia

Robert Archer, n.d.

from Pastoral Review, 15 January 1927

On the 29th December last Robert Stubbs Archer, of Gracemere, Rockhampton, Queensland, one of Australia's foremost stud cattle breeders and graziers, attended his last muster, dying suddenly at the age of 68 years.

Born in Surrey, England, in 1858, he was the eldest son of the late Mr. David Archer, a well-known London merchant, and who had himself been an early pioneer in Queensland. The late Mr. R. S. Archer was educated at the Whitgift Grammar School, Croydon, Surrey, and on leaving school spent some four years in his father's office in London. In 1880, at the age of 22 years, he with his younger brother, John, migrated to Australia, going direct to Gracemere, where he took charge of the books and at the same time gained experience in the pastoral industry under Australian conditions. Being full of grit and determination, he soon made his way through the mill, for within two years of landing in the State he was appointed manager of Gracemere station, and later on became a partner in the ownership of the station.

Soon after his arrival in Australia, he and his brother John took up country at Torsdale, near Banana, and carried it on, in partnership, under the management of the latter till the year 1914, when the partnership of Messrs. R. S. and J. Archer was merged in the firm of Archer Brothers Limited, of Gracemere.

The Gracemere herds of Hereford and beef Shorthorn cattle, famed throughout Australia, were founded in the early seventies, when a shipment of stud cattle of both breeds was imported from England in the sailing ship Ranee, William and Thomas Archer, uncles of the deceased, accompanying them. The studs, under the able management of the late Mr. R. S. Archer, have been kept up to a high standard, and bulls have been widely distributed throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory to the great benefit of the cattle industry.

Robert Archer took an active interest in the public life of Queensland. Amongst many outside duties, he was a member of the Rockhampton Harbour Board, of which he was chairman for a number of years. He was also local chairman of directors of the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company Limited. He was a Queenslander who always worked for the good of his district and State, and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, Mrs. Alister Archer, of Gracemere, and two sons, David and Archibald, who are on Strathdarr and Kensington Downs stations respectively.