James and John Chambers were early settlers in the colony of South Australia, who left England in 1836, became wealthy pastoralists and were closely connected with John McDouall Stuart's expeditions across the continent of Australia.
James and John, sons of William and Elizabeth (née Wilson) Chambers, their wives Catherine and Mary (who were sisters) and their young families were among the first colonists, James arriving on the Coromandel at Holdfast Bay on 17 January 1837.[1] The plan had been that by leaving on an earlier ship James would arrive in plenty of time to organise accommodation for the rest of the family, but unfavourable winds forced the Coromandel to delay its departure until 9 September. The ship was further delayed at Cape Town, partly because insufficient and inferior food supplies had brought about so much illness that Captain William Chesser (died 14 February 1840) feared many passengers would die on the voyage.[2] They arrived 17 January 1837, around two weeks late.
The rest of the family, which included sister Priscilla Chambers, had a trouble-free voyage in the James Renwick, arriving off Largs Bay on 10 February 1837. Catherine and Mary's brother James Redin also emigrated, arriving with his wife on the Navarino on 21 February 1856.
Margaret Goyder Kerr, in her book Colonial Dynasty – the Chambers family of South Australia, makes the point that the two men were physically quite different, both in build and temperament, and John wore a green satin patch over his blind right eye, so would never be confused by contemporaries. The historian however has great difficulty: they both signed their names "J. Chambers" and were involved in similar (and often the same) activities so that it is difficult if not impossible at many points to determine which brother is involved.[3]
James Chambers "Jemmy" (21 September 1811 – 7 August 1862), born in Ponders End, London[4] was a successful grazier and pastoralist in South Australia; with brother John a major sponsor of John McDouall Stuart's expeditions across the continent.
He was the first to drive a team of bullocks between Adelaide and Port Adelaide, and Adelaide and Glenelg, effectively creating the Port Road and Bay Road.[4] He ran sheep on a commonage licence in the area now known as Coromandel Valley.
He bought a town acre at the first land sale, and imported horses from Van Diemens Land (he and brother John had experience as horse dealers in England)[5]
They built a house on Montefiore Hill in North Adelaide, at the site later occupied by John Langdon Bonython's Carclew.[6]
He opened a livery stable in North Adelaide,[5] He bought bullocks and wagons from Cape Town and coaches from England,he tendered successfully for the mail contract to Burra around 1845 (endorsed by postmaster-general John Watts)[7] and built a substantial business carrying passengers to the mining areas north of Adelaide, including Gawler's expeditions into the country.[5]
He provided the horses and carts for Tolmer's gold escort from Mount Alexander to Adelaide in 1852.[5]
He was involved with the Jockey Club, and served as Clerk of Course in 1850.
He sold his business to Simms & Hayter in 1853 for around £14,000 and holidayed in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, where he had gained his horse-dealing experience. With his new-found knowledge of what was needed in South Australia, he was able to return in 1856 on the ship Albuera[8] with a useful selection of horses, cattle and sheep.
He and John dissolved their partnership and between 1854 and 1857 sold 1700 sq. miles (4403 km²) for £48,000, retaining 270 sq. miles (699 km²) in the north.[5]
James and his business partner William Finke found copper on one of their northern properties and on 23 July 1857 were issued with lease no 5 on some eighty acres that became known as the Oratunga Mine.
He and Finke founded "Great Northern Copper Mining Company" and sold eleven mines, most notably Nuccaleena and Oratunga No.2 to that company, which originally consisted of eleven shareholders. The floating of the Great Northern Mining Company on the London Stock Exchange in 1860 was marked by irregularities, shady deals, deception and outright fraud. The first application for mining leases was refused by the Commissioner of Crown Lands Charles Bonney, but his replacement John Bentham Neales, M.P. took it on himself not only to grant them without going through the normal procedures, such as checking claims of the proponents, gaining approval from Major Freeling of the Survey Department (who objected to both applications), the Lands Office, and obtaining the signatures of the Chief Secretary and the Governor, but personally rushed the signed form to mining captains John Hart and Dashwood, and T. Hancock (manager of the North Rhine Mining Company and secretary of Great Northern), as their ship to London was waiting on the tide at Glenelg. The Prospectus they prepared gave an unrealistic picture of the ore bodies, falsely claimed the Government was planning a railway to the mine (the survey was to Mount Remarkable), that the Burra proprietors had offered a large sum for the mine, and that it had the Governor (Sir Richard MacDonnell)'s endorsement, and falsely named John Morphett as a director.[9] While the float was underway, ownership of the leases passed from Chambers and Finke to John Baker M.L.C. and Paxton.
In the parliamentary enquiry under Townsend which followed, James Chambers refused to answer questions, Finke avoided it by travelling interstate, Baker claimed parliamentary privilege and absented himself, and Neales claimed he was following a precedent.[10] The directors judiciously reduced their holdings from 1500 shares each to 200 or 300 while prices were buoyant.[11]
He largely outfitted John McDouall Stuart for four of his six northern expeditions, brother John having supplied everything for the first, and the Government providing for the sixth. This last expedition set out with great ceremony on 25 October 1861 from James's residence on Montefiore Hill, North Adelaide,[12] where he died of complications from a carbuncle[13] without learning of its successful outcome.
James Chambers married Catherine Redin (17 May 1809 – 20 June 1875) of Newton, Lincolnshire, in England on 6 August 1836. It is not known whether she came to Australia on the Coromandel or the James Renwick a month later. Her sister married John Chambers; her brother James Watson Redin (15 April 1813 – 22 August 1871) also emigrated, lived at Aldinga, South Australia
John Barker and Catherine, Hugh Chambers and Agnes, formed the company Barker and Chambers, with major property investments "Comongin Holdings" in Queensland,[19] [20] later became McLean & Barker & Co.
They ran the "horse bazaar" on Sturt Street, Adelaide, also on Grenfell Street and Gay's Arcade, which in November 1884 was destroyed by fire and rebuilt as part of Adelaide Arcade.[21]
When cattle dealer Edward Meade Bagot (1822 – 27 July 1886) (founder of Bagot, Shakes and Lewis), disappeared in 1886, John Barker organised the search party.[22]
Chambers Creek and Chambers Hill (in the Adelaide Hills) were named for James Chambers.[23]
Chambers Pillar, River Chambers and Chambers Range in Central Australia were named for him by Stuart.
Chambers Bay, which Stuart originally named Elizabeth Bay, east of present-day Darwin, where the British flag was first raised, was named for his eldest daughter Elizabeth by Stuart.
Katherine River (and hence the town Katherine) was named for his second daughter Catherine.[24]
Anna Creek, Edwards Creek and William Creek were named for John Chambers' children, by Peter Warburton in 1858, surveyor Lee in 1883, and John McDouall Stuart in 1858 respectively.[25]
John Chambers (1814? 1815? – 26 September 1889), born in Ponders End, Middlesex was a successful grazier and pastoralist in South Australia.
Both he and brother James were livestock dealers in East Dereham, Norfolk, following their father's profession. He arrived in South Australia in the John Renwick on 10 February 1837 with wife Mary, brother Benjamin and sister Priscilla shortly after his brother James.[26]
He and his bullock dray were called on to assist the party of Light, Morphett and Hack, which explored the area between Holdfast Bay and Aldinga in June 1838.[3] He claimed to have done the first ploughing in Adelaide (for Boyle Travers Finniss; another claimant was Donald McLean)[27] and to have built the first Adelaide house with a fireplace, door and glass window.[28] He also practised as a farrier and speculated as a dealer but over-reached himself in 1851 and John and Mary settled down on settled on 1200 acres (486 ha) in Cherry Gardens to run sheep.[5]
In 1846 he took up land around Lake Bonney to run sheep, then formally converted it to leasehold in 1851, setting up a head station at Cobdogla, managed by James Trussell, successfully breeding horses and cattle. The two brothers took up the lease of the station pioneered by Fisher and Handcock near the present-day Renmark in 1858 and in 1859 William Finke took up another section in the area, creating two stations, "Bookmark" and "Chowilla". Around 1860 John Chambers took over Finke's lease,[29] installing James Redin as manager. Around 1865 Chambers sold Bookmark and Chowilla[30] to Richard Holland who around five years later passed it on to his stepsons William and Robert Robertson. (In 1887 the South Australian government resumed part of Bookmark for the Chaffey brothers' irrigation development and the town of Renmark.)[31]
With brother James, he set up a headquarters at Mount Samuel, which Herschel Babbage used as a base for exploring the Flinders Ranges for prospective sites.[32]
He took up leases at Pekina, Mount Remarkable, Moolooloo (managed by John Rose), Bobmoonie and Oratunga (managed by George Warland), Wirrealpa, Stuart Creek and Cournamont.
He and James dissolved their partnership and between 1854 and 1857 sold 1700 sq. miles (4400 km²) for £48,000,
He sold much of his landholdings in 1863, avoiding losses in great drought
He had mining leases around Blinman, South Australia.
It was John who formed the idea of sponsoring John McDouall Stuart's expeditions across the continent.[4] He supplied horses and provisions, and his employees formed Stuart's party.[28]
He died aged 74 at his home on the Bay Road, near Richmond, South Australia.
John married Mary Redin (c. 1812 – 24 March 1904) in October 1836. Their children included:
He was a partner in the brewing firm of Chambers and Blades, which owned the Dragon Brewery, Green Dragon Hotel, the Tanner's Arms in Unley and the Queen's Head in the city. Other partners were brother Charles Chambers and brother-in-law F.J. Blades.
She married again, to Harry Bickford (1843–1927) on 8 December 1904. Neither had any children.
The Chambers brothers had a hands-off management style; their success owed much to their choice of employees: James Trussell (1826–1895) managed Cobdogla Station for 45 years.[33]
Neither brother was involved in public affairs; John was a popular member of the Adelaide Hunt Club and owned the Richmond House racing stables;[34] both were involved in horse racing.
John McDouall Stuart named the Mary River and the Fanny River for his daughters, and the William River for his second son,[13]
It is probable that Chambers Avenue and Redin Street Richmond are linked to this branch of the family.
Benjamin Chambers (ca.1808 – May 1852) and his wife Emily (6 August 1810 –) lived in Tombland, Norwich before emigrating with brother John on the John Renwick.[26]
He settled on a farm somewhere in the Upper Sturt[35] / Cherry Gardens / Coromandel Valley area and played no major part in public affairs. There is circumstantial evidence that he was partner with his brother John in managing the Pekina run.[3] There is no information available on his offspring, if any.
Priscilla Chambers (1816 – 31 December 1900) arrived with brother John on the John Renwick on 10 February 1837[26]
In 1842 she married Alfred Barker (1812 – 24 January 1880) who had been an officer on the Rapid,[36] and settled at Yankalilla.
They moved to Burra when he ran the Burra Hotel, then took over the Baldina Run station in 1862.
He died at Baldina House, St. John's Wood, now part of Prospect, South Australia; she died at Henley Beach, South Australia[37]
James Watson Redin (15 April 1813 – 22 August 1871) was a brother of Catherine and Mary Chambers, born in Newton Hall, Lincolnshire. He had been booked on the James Renwick in 1837 but withdrew at the last moment. According to Margaret Goyder Kerr (op. cit.) he never joined his relations in Australia but this is contradicted by the evidence: he arrived in South Australia ca.1855.[40]
His brother Thomas Redin (1814–) was booked on the John Renwick voyage of 1836 but no more information is available as yet.
He married Susan (ca. 1808 – 23 November 1870) and had a home at Crowder Street, Lower Mitcham, South Australia and at Aldinga, South Australia[41] Their children included:
Flinders Ranges Research website
Kerr, Margaret Goyder Colonial dynasty: the Chambers family of South Australia Rigby Ltd., Adelaide, 1980.