OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 25742, 4 August 1945, Page 9

OBITUARY

MR CHARLES ROBERTSON The death has occurred at the age of 95 of Mr Charles Robertson, one of Stewart Island’s early settlers. He spent the greater part of the last 64 years of his life on the island, he was engaged in sawmilling, .fish canning and contracting at various times. , . Bom in Glasgow in 1850, he was the eldest son of the late Rev. John Robertson. His parents later moved to Birmingham and then to Halstead in Sussex, where Mr Robertson was educated. His father was the first minister of the Unitarian Church at Halstead. When the Rev. John Robertson died, the family returned to Glasgow, where Mr Robertson was apprenticed as an engineer in an iron-works owned by his uncle, Mr James Robertson. Having completed his training, he was sent by his uncle on a business trip which took him through France, Spain and Portugal. In 1873 Mr Robertson decided to emigrate to New Zealand. Before his departure he married Miss Catherine Bruce, third daughter of Mr J. F. Bruce, of Glasgow. The couple arrived at Timaru in April 1874, after a voyage of 62 days. After working at Timaru for a time, he went to Waimate where, in company with two of his brothers, he established a sawmill. After seven years’ operations, the venture ended in disaster when a fire destroyed the mill and the homestead, together with all the belongings of the owners.

After a brief stay at Bluff, Mr Robertson went to Stewart Island in 1881 to become the manager of a sawmill on the north arm of Paterson’s Inlet. The mill was owned by Mr A. Hayes, who originally came from Nova Scotia. Leaving the mill in Mr Robertson’s charge, Mr Hayes travelled to the Klondyke in Alaska. He contracted typhoid fever and died in Dawson City. The mill was sold and Mr Robertson joined his two brothers, Mr William Robertson and Mr Walter Robertson, in establishing a fish and oyster-canning business at Horseshoe Bay. This business was successful for a time and its products won gold medals and awards at exhibitions in England and France, and at the Melbourne and Dunedin Exhibitions. However, the business eventually closed down. In 1890 Mr Robertson became interested in gold mining at Waipori, but was eventually a heavy loser in this venture and he returned to Stewart Island to take up road contracting and fishing. An authority on the flora and fauna of the island, he was a foundation member of the Southland branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He was a member of the Astronomical Society and a member of the Otago Early Settlers’ Association.

Mr Robertson was a brother of the late Mr George Robertson, of the wellknown Sydney publishing house of Angus and Robertson. His wife died in 1892. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs W. Johnson and Mrs L. Tolson, and one son, Mr James Robertson (all of Horseshoe Bay, Stewart Island). He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grand-children.