Clyde 3978 Victoria

Early Clyde Families
1. Richard Robins' Story (1812-1883)

Richard, son of a chemist, was born in Birmingham England, in 1812. When he was twenty years old he broke into a house was caught by the police and taken to court. On September 6th he was sentenced to death but this was commuted to transportation to Australia. Three months later on 13 December 1832 he began the 154 day journey from Portsmouth to Hobart via Rio aboard the “Lotus” arriving in May 1833.

It was 13 years before Richard Robins legally became a free man. Obtaining a Ticket of Leave eight years after arriving in Tasmania meant he could work for a wage but always had to carry this Ticket with him. Four years later, in 1845, he was given a Conditional Pardon which allowed him to live anywhere in Australia but not allowed to return to Britain. Many ex-convicts crossed Bass Strait for work in Victoria. Newly developed farms and industries needed employees. We assumed by newspaper articles that Mr Robins came first to Geelong, on a free trip, offered by the Geelong Immigration society and eventually he worked in Collingwood Melbourne as a carpenter.

At 38 years of age, he married Eliza Thompson, newly arrived from Ireland. In 1854 following the birth of their third child he purchased his first block land in Clyde at the corner of Tuckers and Patterson Road. Like all pastoral pioneers, sometimes called colonists, it was hard persistent work that provided for his family and developed the land. His effort enabled him to purchase another block of land on the adjacent corner of Tuckers and Patterson’s Road. Local respect for Richard Robins was demonstrated in appointing him a member of the School board and permitting him to build the school house and classroom.
Upon his death at 71 years it could be said that he was a wealthy man.

Early Clyde Map (Block 51 - Melway 135- C 7)

Map before 1888 showing land owned by Richard Robins on both corners of Patterson and Tuckers Road. The Clyde Creek ran through one of his properties. The second block of land had been bought sometime in or before 1863. The railway line perhaps had been built and it was pencilled in.
Alexander Cameron's land had yet to be acquired for the Clyde Township.
Source:
State Libray of Victoria Map Collections.
See Historical Maps of Clyde in "Roads Farms" to learn how to find these maps

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Sources
1. Kath Soulsby – Robins Family historian
2. Maureen Cooney - Robins Family Historian
3. Trove: The Argus Newspaper digitised and online.
4. State Library Victoria - Map Collection
5. Ancestry.com
6. Historic Community Hall
7. State Library of Victoria Map Collections
8. Baillerie's Post Office Directories 1868 (Victoria's First Directory)
Hathi Trust Digital Library - Clyde Entry Page 45 , Cranbourne Entry Page 49
9. Cranboure Shire Rate Books
10. Clyde North School History 118
11. Convict Records:
http://foundersandsurvivors.org/pubsearch/convict/chain/c31a31370297
12. Irish Bounty Girls www.irishfaminememorial.org