Robert Warland (1807 - 19 January 1868) was the son of William Warland (1765 - 1838), many of whose sons migrated to Australia from 1823 to 1840 (click on link for further information), and the brother of William Henry Warland who arrived in Australia in 1823.
Before leaving for Australia, Robert Warland married Eliza Horder on 18 April 1839 at Wimborne Minster, UK. Robert was a painter and glazier, according to the marriage records. Eliza was 27 when she married, and was the daughter of Richard Horder, a yeoman. The witnesses to the marriage were Richard Horder, John Reekes, and Ann Warland (Ref: Registrar 1839, June qtr, Wimborne, viii 369).
Robert and Eliza travelled on the Singapore under the command of Captain Hamilton, with his brother William and sister in law Alicia to Australia, departing the UK on 8 July 1839 and arriving in November 1839.
In September 1841, Eliza Warland's 22 year old brother George, who had accompanied Robert and Eliza to Australia, was caught stealing four lambs (with an older accomplice, James Hunt), the property of William and James Hill. (Source: Southern Australian, 29 October 1841, recording the outcomes of Supreme Court Criminal Sittings). The Southern Australian reported the case in detail on 5 November 1841, misspelling George's surname as Horden. James Hunt and George Horden were then charged with stealing four lambs, value £3, the property of William and James Hill, in September last. The prisoners pleaded not guilty. The Advocate-General appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Mann for the defence.
[After evidence was raised on both sides) Mr Mann addressed the jury, calling particular attention to the duplicity of Bradshaw in taking the fifteen sheep to Hill, and yet uncertain, as he now alleges, what had been done with the four lambs. That must throw a doubt on the whole of Bradshaw's testimony, which was the only distinct evidence before the jury. The whole evidence, in fact, was full of absurdities, which it was impossible for any one in his senses to believe. The Advocate General replied, exculpating the boy Bradshaw on the ground of an indis position to give evidence against his master until concealment was no longer possible. His Honor then went through the evidence with great care and attention, commenting with much force on the various points, and concluded with expressing his conviction that the intelligence of the jury would lead them to deal with the case according to the evidence before them. The jury then returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoners were both sentenced to transportation for life, later (it appears) changed to 10 years.
George Horder was transported to Norfolk Island on the Emma, departing Port Adelaide on 26 November 1841. A Horder relative noted in July 1995 that George drowned (reasons not stated) and was buried on Norfold Island on 18 February 1843 aged 25. [Additional source: Convict Death Register 1828 - 79 AO Fiche No 250, P105). During the 1990s I received some information suggesting that George Horder did not die but in fact escaped or returned to Tasmania where he (or another George William Horder) died in 1914. However, according to the Horder relative, the George Horder in Tasmania arrived there in 1842 and came from Gloucestershire - his father Thomas Horder was from Dorset.
Robert and Eliza Warland are believed to have lived initially at Currie Street, Adelaide. They had the following children.
At some point, Robert and Eliza lived at Thebarton, an inner suburb of Adelaide (which may be the same place as Currie St, which runs to Thebarton). This property may have been known as 'Kensington'.
Sometime after 1853 and before September 1855, Robert Warland bought section 4040 and part-section 4039 (north east of the Bonney's Flat locality) at Balhannah, and leased section 4043 from Rev Watson of Kensington. He called this property Green Close or Greenclose Park.
According to The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser of 9 September 1948:
Back in 1860 a volunteer Military Force was formed in Balhannah. The original list of volunteers with the men's signatures is preserved in the public Archives. Among others the list contains the signatures of Edward Addison, H. Fenwick, Richard Gibbons, Herman Rose, James and William Grasby, James Roe, John Camac, Robert Warland and the Marks, of several whose limited education at the time made it necessary for them to have another record their membership.
The South Australia Register on 16 June 1860 noted that Robert Warland had just suffered the loss of his five year old daughter Amelia, after '... a long and painful illness'. Her death was recorded in the South Australian Register on 16 June 1860.
Robert Warland's brother, George Warland, died at Balhannah (or more likely at his newly acquired property called Harben Vale, south of Balhannah and north of Littlehampton) in 1861.
Robert Warland died on 19 January 1868. His children were aged 26 to 15. According to the South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail of 25 January 1868, Robert Warland's funeral was held in the week of 20 January 1868. The newspaper noted that 'the remains of Mr Warland, a long resident in this district, were conveyed to their resting place, in the burying gound [sic] in connection with St Thomas Church, Balhannah, followed by most of the settlers around' (which almost certainly included his brother's families). The South Australian Register of 25 January 1868 also recorded the death of 'an old and much respected settler (Robert Warland), farmer, of near Oakbank, who died on Sunday morning January 19. The deceased had resided in this locality between 15 and 17 years and by his quiet and unostentatious life had gained the respect of all who knew him.'.
After his death in 1868, Eliza Warland and her sons remained at Greenclose Park.
Christopher Warland lived at Hargrove Station, Semaphore, in South Australia, and was noted variously as a carpenter, farmer and mason (he was said to have had a hand in buliding some of the Catholic churches around Adelaide), and was also remembered for having bee hives in the mid 1920's. Christopher Warland, 'of Mannum', married Ellen Westle (? - 29 June 1925) on 11 September 1878 (SA BDM Ref 116/886) at Stanley Street, Lower North Adelaide. (Source: South Australian Register, 12 September 1878). From the birth records, it appears that they moved from Adelaide then to Norwood, then to Port Adelaide by 1895.
Christopher and Ellen Warland had the following children.
Eliza Warland died on 29 September 1880, according to death notices in the both the The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) and the South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA) on Saturday 2 October 1880.
Eliza Lavinia Warland (1853 - 1893) married Richard William Kelsey (c.1847 - 7 September 1902) on 29 December 1880. They had the following children (provided by a Kelsey descendent):
Edwin Warland (1845 - 1918) married Anne/Annie Hepworth in 1882 (SA BDM Ref 130/1143) and they had the following children, all born at Nairne:
Henry Richard Warland (1843 - 1918) appears in Meningie in 1886 at the age of 43 where he married the widow Mary Jane Washington. Henry's life there is documented on this page. It is believed that, sometime after 1893 when they separated, Henry may have returned to Greenclose Park, although he may have been somewhere else.
Albert Warland (1849 - ) was said to have been on the second expedition to the Northern Territory but no evidence can be found for this yet and he may be confused with his cousin George Warland (son of William Warland).
In any case, Albert Warland is believed to have moved to the Northern Territory where he became a miner. On 7 July 1894 Albert Warland wrote a letter in relation to his uncle William Henry Warland's probate. His address was 'Port Darwin Camp, Northern Territory, South Australia'.
Albert Warland was noted as a 'Packer' on the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway (Northern Territory) in 1895. It is not yet known what became of Albert and if he remained in the Northern Territory.
Almost nothing is known about Robert F Warland (1842 - 1914). According to The Advertiser (Adelaide) dated 10 June 1898, Robert Frederick Warland was charged with ill-treating a horse by 'throwing a stone at the horse as it was grazing near a boundary fence.'
Greenclose Park was sold to Henry Wicks in 1905; he established the Balhannah nurseries for the propagation of pome and stone fruits. At this point the Warland children had their own lives and moved away. One of the children who may have remained in the immediate area was Edwin Warland, who died at Balhannah.
The Wicks moved the nursery to Charleston in the 1990s (where it remains) then sold it. The Wicks family still lives on the property formerly owned by Robert Warland. (Source: Balhannah Nursery staff in early 2017)
South Australian BDM records do not record a marriage for Robert Frederick Warland (born 1842). Robert Warland died on 5 May 1914 at Balhannah, aged 72.
Edwin Warland (1845 - 1918) died on 12 November 1918 'at his residence, Balhannah' (SA BDM Ref 423/272). His wife Annie Warland died in November 1941 and was buried at St Thomas cemetery, Balhannah.
Charles Alfred Warland (1848 - 1919) died at Nairne in 1919 (SA BDM Ref 430/225). Charles was noted in the Register, Adelaide, of 21 August 1919 as a 'recently deceased' old aged pensioner, late of Balhannah. This suggests he died without family.
Hubert Percival Warland (1888 - 1948), the son of Christopher and Ellen Warland, moved to and then married Myrtle Ivy Dodson (22 August 1891 - 25 July 1964) on 19 April 1913 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Hubert was an apprentice on a sailing ship when he was about 15. He obtained his Captain's papers when he was about 20.
Hubert and Myrtle Warland had the following children:
Violet Mabel Warland, the daughter of Christopher and Ellen Warland, married Leslie James Muller (the second son of H W A Muller) on 14 June 1915 at St Bede's, Semaphore (SA BDM Ref 263/768, also The Advertiser (Adelaide) 12 July 1915). They were said to live at Second Avenue, Cheltenham. Leslie and Violet Muller had the following children:
Kenneth Warland (1894 - 1916) enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) during the First World War and was sent overseas on 9 March 1916 with the 17th Battalion to Gallipoli. At Gallipoli, Kenneth is credited with taking out a Turkish machine gun post. He was then sent to France, where he was killed in action on 31 August 1918. Kenneth is buried at the Peronne Communal Cemetery (source: Extracts from War Graves of the British Empire, 1914 - 1918 War, France, Vol 20, CEM 440 - 513).
It is not known yet what exactly happened to Henry Richard after 1893 (the birth of William Edwin) to 1915. He appears to have vanished from the scene (there is no reference to him in any electoral roll in the Barker Division of South Australia from 1905 to 1915) and then reappears in 1916 as a 'gardener' in Penola/Naracoorte. He was also recorded there in 1917. He died of heart failure on 15 April 1918, at Naracoorte. A newspaper article described him as an 'old age pensioner' who lived in the West end of the town. It noted that he arrived from Penola 'about two months ago and was about 75 years of age'.
Henry Richard's death certificate lists Mary Jane Warland as his relation. Henry Richard was buried in Naracoorte.
In 1932/33, Hubert and Myrtle Warland and family moved to Victoria, then to Manly (Sydney), New South Wales in 1935/36. According to family members, Hubert was signed up by the US Navy during World War Two and was flown to New Zealand; with a crew of five, brought a ship back to Australia. He was then sent to the Pacific Islands. Many of the members of this family now live in Sydney, New South Wales.
According to The Advertiser (Adelaide) of 12 December 1932, Ella Barton and another woman were shot at five times by a man while looking after a florist's shop (T Mason and Co) at 121 Wickham Street in Brisbane just after 8 AM on 10 December 1932. Ella was hit once in her left shoulder. Although 'the man was evidently satisfied that his work had been effective', all five shots failed to inflict vital wounds. (Source: Recorder, Port Pirie, 12 December 1932).
Lily Warland, the first daughter of Edwin and Annie Warland, died on 30 March 1944 (Source: The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, 6 April 1944). The same newspaper on the same day noted that Lily 'had been a generous worker for Red Cross, FFCF, the bureau and hospital guild. The late lady was a very old resident but had lived in the city for the last two years.' She was buried at St Thomas Cemetery.
Page re-created 16 September 2012, updated 8 April 2020. Copyright © 2021 Andrew Warland. (andrewwarland(at)gmail.com)