Obituaries Australia

Lewis Kiddle, n.d.

from Pastoralists' Review 15 January 1912

A well-known figure in Melbourne, Riverina and elsewhere passed away at the opening of the New Year, in the person of Mr. Lewis Kiddle. Sixty years ago he first came to Australia from his Somersetshire home in England, and resided in the Geelong district of Victoria for several years, after which he returned to his native land to complete his education and gain agricultural experience. Coming out again in 1865, he engaged in pastoral pursuits in the Geelong district, and later leased Breadalbane Estate, in the Coliban district of Victoria. In 1874 he, with others, purchased the now famous Steam Plains property in the Deniliquin district of Riverina. At that time it consisted of about 50,000 acres of Crown lands, but the late Mr. Kiddle, who became sole owner in '75, converted it into a freehold of close on 47,000 acres.

In 1886 he took up his residence in Melbourne, and became interested in Barwon Park, in the Western District of Victoria. The 1902 drought, which affected the whole of Australia, induced him to purchase Carabost Station, near Wagga Wagga, N.S.W., as a relief property to Steam Plains, and Shockaroo and Mount Airy, adjoining Carabost, were later added to it.

The late Mr. Kiddle was appointed a Commissioner of the Savings Banks in Victoria in 1904, and was chairman of directors of the Western Queensland Pastoral Company Limited, now owning Burenda station, and was a director of several companies in Melbourne up to the time of his death. His properties are managed by his two sons, Mr. L. E. Loch Kiddle and Mr. R. G. Kiddle, Steam Plains by the former, and Carabost by the latter. Both are carrying on the good work of their father, who, by unceasing care and attention, raised the Steam Plains sheep to a very high place in the long list of the well-known Merino flocks of Australia, that they fill today.