William Robertson (1798-1874), pastoralist and entrepreneur, was a key player in the settlement of Victoria in the 1830s. A farmer's son, Robertson came to Van Diemen's Land in 1824 and took up land and cattle runs in the midlands before establishing a business in Hobart. By 1835, he and his brother, John, had amassed sufficient capital to join a number of other investors, including Joseph Gellibrand and John Batman, in a scheme to expand pastoral activities into the unclaimed districts along the northern shores of Bass Strait. They helped finance Batman's exploratory trip to Port Phillip in 1835, during the course of which he made a 'treaty' with the Aboriginal people that he later used as the basis for a 600,000 acre land claim on behalf of the syndicate - the Port Phillip Association. Robertson travelled to Port Phillip in 1836 and 1837 to select his share of the land, his holdings by the late 1840s concentrated in the area around Colac. Robertson stocked his properties with 'the best bulls and cows that could be got in the colonies' as well as making return journeys to Britain to select livestock for export. He oversaw the operation of his pastoral empire from his home, Melrose, in Battery Point, until retiring from his Hobart business in 1852. He settled permanently at his Colac property, Corangamarah, in the early 1860s. His obituary described him as a 'founder' of Victoria's fortunes: 'He took an important part in its early struggles for existence, and never ceased his exertions in it until by his acumen, energy, and perseverance, his lands became a vast possession and himself a millionaire.'
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of Malcolm Robertson in memory of William Thomas Robertson 2018
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
William Robertson (age 62 in 1860)
Margaret Robertson (age 49 in 1860)
William Robertson Jnr (age 21 in 1860)
Martha M. Robertson (age 16 in 1860)
Malcolm Robertson (16 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Malcolm Robertson tells the family history of one of Australia's earliest patrons of the arts, his Scottish born great great great grandfather, William Robertson.
Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.
