Obituaries Australia

William Hamilton, n.d.

from Pastoralists' Review, 15 July 1911

By the death of Mr. William Hamilton in his eighty-first year, on 18th June, South Australia has lost an old and enterprising pastoralist. The deceased was born in September, 1830, at Strathavon, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in which town his father, Mr. John Hamilton, was a solicitor. He arrived in South Australia at the age of twenty years, and entered into trade at Port Adelaide in partnership with Mr. Crocker. The firm continued until 1869, when Mr. Hamilton retired, and began business in Adelaide as a merchant and pastoralist. He owned several vessels, which used to trade chiefly between Port Adelaide and Mauritius. In conjunction with Mr. Samuel Mills, he carried on pastoral pursuits at Chandada and Lake Everard Stations, on the West Coast, and in the north at Beetaloo, Teetulpa, and Yackara Stations. With Mr. George Wilcox, Mr. Hamilton owned Koonamore Station, in the north-east, until a few weeks ago, when the partnership was converted into a limited company. The late Mr. Hamilton took a prominent part in the movement instituted some years ago for more liberal pastoral land laws, and it was largely due to the effort of such men as himself, Mr. Peter Waite, and others, that South Australian land laws were liberalised, and pastoral occupation of outside country made possible. The deceased has left a son—Mr. A. E. Hamilton—and four daughters—Mesdames D. Morton Tweedie and R. E. Harrold, and Misses Ethel and Elsie Hamilton. Mrs. Harrold is at present in London, and Miss Elsie Hamilton, the well-known pianiste, is devoting her time to musical studies in France.