Obituaries Australia

Robert Outhwaite, n.d.

from Pastoralists' Review, 16 December 1912

Mr. Robert Outhwaite, one of Victoria's early settlers, died in Melbourne last month. He was born in Yorkshire in 1827, and upon leaving school his guardian intended that he should be trained for the bar, but professional life did not appeal to Mr. Outhwaite, and he decided to go to Australia. He accordingly arrived in Melbourne in 1848 in the ship Stag, which also carried Bishop Perry, first bishop of Melbourne, and Dean Macartney.

He entered into pastoral life with his brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph Hawdon, of Banyule, Heidelberg, and became owner of Gin Gin, Tallarook, and Tongaboo Stations. It is interesting, as showing the prices obtaining for cattle fifty years ago, that on 12th February, 1851, Mr. Outhwaite sold, through Messrs. Mickle and Bakewell, seventy-one head of cattle at 27s. The document recording the sale shows that the charges on the transaction were dues and yards £2 1s. 5d., and commission £4 17s. 7d., leaving a net profit of £90 13s. 6d. In 1872 he retired from station life, and settled upon a small estate near Doncaster, where he lived to the end, which came after a long life of eighty-five years.

Mr. Outhwaite married the eldest daughter of Mr. Robert Clerk, of Sandy Bay and Malahide, Tas., and leaves six children—Mr. R. L. Outhwaite, the recently-elected Liberal member for Hanley in the Imperial Parliament; Mr. E. W. Outhwaite, Mr. A. G. Outhwaite, and Mr. A. H. Outhwaite, who are in business in Melbourne; Mr. J. G. Outhwaite, now in South Africa, and Mrs. A. J. Wood.