Mid North Coast Pioneers - Newcastle to Lismore and beyond

Estimated year of birth taken from it being noted that he was 76 years years old at the time of his death in 1877.

The Family Group Sheet provided by Ryan Dudley has his DOB of 1800 in Fife, Scotland.

The "Hero of Malown" sailed from London on 14 July 1841, under the command of Captain Christian Jackson. The vessel was under charter to the Australian Agricultural Company, and most of the passengers were contracted to work for the AA Co. The Company held the monopoly to the great coal seams under their new settlement at Newcastle, and had contracted these Fifeshire miners to work their holdings. Experienced miners from the parish of Cupar had been employed by the AA Co. agent Robert Taylor.

During the voyage Robert was responsible for three stud rams that the Australian Agricultural Company were importing.

The vessel arrived at Port Jackson (Sydney) on 21 November 1841, with 33 passengers, all coal miners and their families.

Name Surname Trade or Office Age Family / Remarks Intermediate James William Graham Overman 23 Steerage Thomas Hean / Fergan Collier 36 Wife James Lindsay Collier 24 Wife & Daughter Alexander Miller Collier 23 Wife, 2 Sons, Daughter David Miller Collier 24 Wife & Son Andrew Peattie Collier 19 William Ritchie Collier 22 David Simpson Collier 19 John Simpson was his brother John Simpson Collier 20 Wife John Smith Collier 26 Wife & 3 Daughters Robert Williamson Collier 36 Wife, 2 Sons, 3 Daughters and 2 daughters of Ellen's previous marriage to David Webster.

The following account of the accident was given by James Reid at the inquest held at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, The Junction, before the District Coroner:

"I had been gone about five minutes when I heard the deceased shouting. I immediately ran to his assistance, and found him in his bord, lying on his face with a huge lump of coal lying across his body; he seemed to have been filling a skip at the time the coal fell; I spoke to the deceased, but got no answer; David Griffiths, who followed me into the deceased bord, helped me to extricate the deceased by removing the coal from off him; he was then very weak and unable to speak; we then removed him to the top of the pit, but he died whilst we were putting him into the skip to remove him ..."

The Newcastle Morning Herald of 17 March 1877 remarked that Robert Williamson "was about seventy-seven years of age, one of the A.A. Company's oldest servants ... many of the family are now occupying respectable positions in the city, and he has a large connection throughout the district."