Cover image for Robinson Family
Agency:
Robinson Family
Agency Number:
Start Date:
01 Jan 1801
Description:
James William Robinson (1824-1906), the son of George William and Elizabeth Presnell, had a long career in the whaling industry. He went to sea as a ship's boy at 11, saw his first whale killed shortly before his 13th birthday, and rounded Cape Horn soon after. At 15, when he was working for a season at a Tasmanian bay-whaling station, his father died unexpectedly. While he worked mainly in the pelagic whaling industry out of Hobart, Robinson also carried a variety of cargoes to all the Australasian colonies, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies, and to gold-rush California. He undertook the only Australian sealing voyage to subantarctic Heard Island, and collected guano off the Queensland coast. Ashore, he established and operated mines in both Victoria (gold) and Tasmania (tin). James married Jane Parsons Bently in 1847. Captain Alfred Bingley Robinson (1851-1934) was the second son of Captain James William and Jane Parson Robinson (nee Bently). He was born in Victoria while his father was at the gold diggings. Alfred married Mary Ann Clark in Hobart in 1873. They had 13 children between 1876 and 1894, although three died young. From October 1898 he was employed at the Eddystone Lighthouse. Robert Jackson was the superintendent at the time. Wilfred Gordon Robinson (1886-1979), son of Alfred Bingley, served in the Field Ambulance during the First World War, and was a farmer at Caveside, near Mole Creek. His son Wilfred Thomas Robinson also farmed at Caveside, and wrote poetry and family reminiscences.
Information Sources:
Michael Nash (ed.), Captain Robinson : the reminiscences of a Tasmanian master mariner James William Robinson 1824-1906 (Sandy Bay: Blubber Head Press, 2009)
George William Robinson (NG3147)01 Jan 180107 Sep 1839
Series Created By Agency:
NS222 Reminiscences of Captain J W Robinson01 Jan 181931 Dec 1900

CRO71 Letters and Diaries of J W Robinson01 Feb 186418 May 1873

CRO84 Logbook - George Robinson06 Feb 1869

CRO80 Certificates and Medals17 Jan 187911 Jun 1977

CRO59 Alfred Bingley Robinson Notebooks and Diaries01 Jan 188016 Jul 1892

LMSS117 Diary01 Oct 189809 Jul 1902

NS713 Copies of Diaries01 Sep 191422 Nov 1918

CRO78 Literary Manuscripts09 Jul 198024 Aug 1984