Pile (Cr) James
| Type of person | Individual |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1900 |
| Place of birth | Yorkshire, England |
| Date of arrival | 1849 |
| Date of death | 1895 |
James Pile was elected as a Councillor for Gawler's East Ward in 1862 and 1863.
James Pile resided at Oaklands on McKinlay Avenue, Gawler East. His daughter Jane, married John McKinlay.
PILE James 1880 – 1885
James Pile, the son of William and Elizabeth Pile, was born just before 10th February 1800 and is recorded as being Christened on that date at St Mary’s and St Nicholas’ Church, Beverley, Yorkshire in England. We have no further information about his parents or any siblings he may have had.
James married Isabella McAuslin (?) McCauslin (?) Causlem(?) (born 1801) on 30th January 1820 in the town of Hamilton, in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
This was a tumultuous time in British history. The Napoleonic Wars were devastating Europe and Britons lived for many years in fear of invasion. The industrial revolution was beginning to clear the countryside of its labourers who flocked to the towns to work in the new mills and factories beginning to be built in the cities and outlying towns. Transportation to Australia for often very minor misdemeanours, was common and the poor were the most vulnerable.
Like many families of the period the Piles had a large family of nine children – 4 boys and 5 girls- Anne in 1824, James junior born in 1830, Isabella junior in 1832, Jean in 1833, Jane in 1838, William in 1841, John in 1842, Charles in 1844 and lastly Jessie, in 1846. All were born in Lanarkshire.
At some point James and Isabella decided to emigrate as free settlers to Australia, as did thousands of others like them in the William IV and early Victorian eras.
They may have heard of the new ‘Wakefield Plan experiment’ – of a colony with no convicts that sought free labour and offered cheap land to free settlers as an inducement. When Jessie was three, 1n 1849, they sailed from Liverpool, in ‘steerage’ on the sailing ship “Anna” captained by James Moffatt and bound for Melbourne. They arrived on November 5th 1849. The colony of South Australia was then only 13 years old.
The Pile’s settled in Gawler and James became s involved in horse breeding (his sons, John and William later became successful horse breeders and their horse ‘The Assyrian’ won the Melbourne Cup in 1894) and selling and running large sheep flocks along the Darling River and its Ana branch.
James became an important citizen of Gawler, serving as a Justice of the Peace, Town councillor and an Elder of the St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Cowan Street. This building has had various lives since then.
In the early 1860’s the Pile’s lived at Beckwith Farm, the former property of Thomas Stubbs, on the North Para River about a mile and a half out of Gawler and then had a grand house built of 14 rooms plus huge garden and stables on the slopes of Gawler East. He called this house “Oaklands”.
Writing in 1880, George Loyau stated “Mr McKinlay supplied the market with meat from his run on the Darling – a station then under the able supervision of Mr R Boucaut. Mr Pile brought horses suitable for the farmers from Sydney.”
He went on to say “Mr McKinlay formed the acquaintance of Mr James Pile, for whom to the end of a useful life he cherished the warmest regard. This acquaintance developed an important phase in the explorer’s life, and through the friendship formed at that time he became more identified with Gawler by forming an attachment for a daughter of his estimable friends, which culminated in marriage.”
On one of his exploratory journeys in 1862 McKinlay named two lakes he discovered – Lake Jeannie after Jane (his pet name for her) and Lake Jessie after her younger sister. These lakes were in central Australia and seem now to either no longer exist or have been renamed.
The couple were married in St George’s Anglican Church in Gawler in 1863.
Jane was 19 years younger than McKinlay who was born in 1819 making him almost exactly 19 years younger than Jane’s father James.
The marriage, despite being very-short due to McKinlay’s untimely death only nine years later in 1872, appears to have been a happy one. They were often seen in Gawler and surrounding district driving in a very grand carriage (a barouche). There were no children from the marriage and the widowed Jane continued to live in the large house – ‘Oaklands’ – with her unmarried sister Jessie until they were in advanced years. They were both prominent philanthropists in the town. Sadly, after Jane’s death in 1914 at the age of 76, Jessie became rather eccentric and a recluse and the house and gardens became very run down and neglected until her death at 85, in 1931.
One of Pile’s sons, James Jr., drowned trying to cross the Darling Ana branch in 1864. Within only a few days of this tragedy. James and Isabella also lost their second daughter (Mrs Isabella Glen) to complications after childbirth in 1864 after the birth of her third child. Sadly, all three children died in infancy. John McKinlay who, by that time was brother-in-law to both the deceased, had the unenviable task of riding from Gawler to tell the bereaved husband the news. Glen was at his Murbko run on the east bank of the Murray river, south of Morgan.
The South Australian Register on 9 January 1865 reported the following – “The body of the late Mr James Pile junior is on board the “Wentworth” en route for Gawler Town for interment. Mr John McKinlay and Mr W Pile accompany the body”
Pile, too, spent long periods of time away from his family in that south west corner of NSW near both Wentworth and the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers and sometimes near Bathurst. His sheep were driven overland to the markets in South Australia, NSW, Victoria and Queensland and it was during that time that he had met and befriended the young Scot named John McKinlay not long after James’ arrival in Australia.
Their friendship – like all good friendships – promoted interest for both men. McKinlay assisted Pile in his pastoral pursuits and Pile provided McKinlay with financial adice and mentorship. At one-point Pile owned Cuthero and Polier Stations and had 20,000 head of sheep driven overland to Queensland – many hundreds of miles.
Pile left the management of his NSW ‘runs’ to be managed by his sons William, John and Charles in the name of ‘Pile Brothers’ and settled in Gawler, building a fine home (‘Oaklands’) in Gawler East for his remaining family.
Pile’s wife, Isabella, died in Gawler on 11 February 1874 aged 73 and James died aged 85, also in Gawler, on 19 March 1885 – so both lived to a good age for that period in history. He left a complex will leaving money to his three surviving daughters plus the house to his two single daughters – widowed Jane and unmarried Jessie. His horse and sheep properties were left to his sons – John, Charles, and William – who became very-successful racehorse breeders and trainers.
After Jane’s death in 1914, Jessie lived on alone at ‘Oaklands’ for another 17 years and became increasingly eccentric and reclusive. She is said to have kept several savage dogs to protect the property from intruders. She was still seen occasionally in Gawler dressed as if in the previous century and she still prepared to be philanthropic if the cause interested her. On her death the house and contents were sold. At the sale would-be purchasers and busybodies were amazed at the dilapidated state of the house and its contents. The grand brass double bed that had once belonged to Jane and John McKinlay had dropped through the white ant eaten floorboards! There was also a
very grand barouche that the family had used often to attend St Andrew’s Church but that had descended into disrepair too, since Jane’s death. A spinet – an 18th Century precursor to the piano was also discovered! The house was bought and presumably renovated by a Mr George Powell, as it is still occupied to this day.
Despite both Jane, Jessie & Charles being childless, James and Isabella Pile had numerous descendants from their daughter Anne and sons William and John.
[National Trust Gawler Branch – by Judy Gillett-Ferguson]
To see more photos of James Pile please click here
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