William Horsley Rowland
William Horsley Rowland was born in Perth, during October 1847. One of only 192 births recorded in the colony for that year (Birth Registration No. 1028). His mother, Elizabeth Rowland, was 41 years old at the time.
William was born into a family of seven other siblings: Jane Rowland who was now 16 years old; Mary Rowland was 14 years old; Ann Margaret Rowland, 11 years old; Emma Johnson Rowland, 9 years. His older brother Michael Johnson Rowland was 8 years old; sister Elizabeth Rowland, 4 years old, and young Richard Rowland (junior) had been born 2 years previously. |
For further information regarding William's Parents; |
1850's
In December 1857, when William was 10 years old, the Rowland house on the Peninsula was gutted by fire while the unmarried children were home alone.
This setback no doubt contributed to his father Richard Rowland's decision to consider leasing his Peninsula holdings and take up land on the Irwin River with his oldest son Michael.
The details of William's education are unknown.
The 11-year-old William would have attended his sister Emma Rowland [4.] wedding when she married Sgt William Alderton. The couple were married in the second Wesley Chapel, on the 8th of June 1858. They left the colony for Sydney, then Hobart, within six months.
This setback no doubt contributed to his father Richard Rowland's decision to consider leasing his Peninsula holdings and take up land on the Irwin River with his oldest son Michael.
The details of William's education are unknown.
The 11-year-old William would have attended his sister Emma Rowland [4.] wedding when she married Sgt William Alderton. The couple were married in the second Wesley Chapel, on the 8th of June 1858. They left the colony for Sydney, then Hobart, within six months.
1860's
News would have eventually reached Perth that William's older 25-year-old married sister, Emma Alderton [4.] (nee Rowland) caught a severe chill, from which she died on the 24th of June 1863, in Hobart, leaving three young children.
William moved to the Irwin area, by land, with his parents in 1863, at the age of sixteen. His older brother Michael Rowland married during 1866.
William never married.
William lived and worked at the old Rowland home on the bank of the Irwin River at Dongara, for some years. He may have worked at Greenough during the 60's.
William never married.
William lived and worked at the old Rowland home on the bank of the Irwin River at Dongara, for some years. He may have worked at Greenough during the 60's.
1870's
Then, during 1870, William became the first settler in Eneabba Springs (150 miles south of Dongara),
William Horsley Rowland arrived in the Eneabba area travelling south from Greenough. He took up a 3,000-acre lease at Eneabba Springs. William survived by shepherding, trapping horses and pigs and living on wild game. Eneabba is a town on the current Brand Highway, 278 kilometres north of Perth. The area is now famous for its spectacular display of wildflowers in the spring. World War II servicemen settled the town, with their families, in the late 1950s. Eneabba was the last settlement opened up for returned soldiers to request allocations of land for farming purposes. On the 19th of August 1879, William's older sister Ann Margaret Cockman [3.] (nee Rowland) died in Perth and was buried in GinGin. |
1880's
In August of 1883, William's Rowland's pioneering father, Richard Rowland died in Dongara, of natural causes. He was aged 78 years. His body was buried in the Dongara Cemetery.
Then his mother Elizabeth Rowland passed away on the 8th of June 1892, at Dongara, aged eighty-six.
1900's
William, in about 1901, (and then aged about 54 years old) departed the Eneabba Springs property, and Mr. Edward Downs, of Dongara, took over the lease.
William then lived for a short time with his younger brother John Rowland, [1.10] and later moved in with his older brother, Michael Johnson Rowland, [1.5] and his wife Rebecca, at Jarrah Villa, near Dongara (Electoral Roll 1903).
William then lived for a short time with his younger brother John Rowland, [1.10] and later moved in with his older brother, Michael Johnson Rowland, [1.5] and his wife Rebecca, at Jarrah Villa, near Dongara (Electoral Roll 1903).
William Horsley Rowland died on June the 2nd, 1903, at Dongara, aged 56 years. (Death Reg: Irwin: 002/1903) William Horsley Rowland was buried at the Dongara Cemetery in the Methodist Section, Grave 35, on the 3rd of June 1903. His older brother, Michael Johnson Rowland [5.] was the executor of his will. |
Richard and Elizabeth Rowland had 10 Children. Their individual stories are told here:
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