Anne Drysdale

Anne Drysdale (26 August 1792 - 11 May 1853) was a pioneer squatter from whom Drysdale, Victoria, is named.

Early life

Anne Drysdale was born on 26 August 1792, the daughter of William Drysdale of Pitteuchar, Fife, Scotland, town clerk of Kirkcaldy, and Anne Currison, daughter of the town clerk of Hamilton.

Pioneer life
Craufurdland Castle

She initially had a farm in Ayrshire, Scotland, on her own account, and lived with the Houison Craufurd family in their Craufurdland Castle.[1] Later decided, for health reasons, to emigrate to Port Phillip.[2] Anne Drysdale arrived at Port Phillip on 15 March 1840, and soon after became a guest of Dr Alexander Thomson and his family in Geelong. He had offered to help her and find a run. She and Caroline Elizabeth Newcomb (1812-1874), also a recent immigrant, became friends and, when Anne decided on Boronggoop as the site for her run, they also became partners. Anne was an experienced farmer and twenty years senior to Caroline. A cottage was built for them, the Armstrong family and others entered their employ, and a home was established.[3]

Coryule, built for Anne Drysdale and Caroline Elizabeth Newcomb

As Boronggoop was held by licence, Drysdale was anxious to own a freehold property. By 1843 they had established an outstation, Lap Lap, on Reedy Lake, and had heard of the run Coryule, near modern Drysdale. On 18 July they settled the sale of the property from Mr. Austin and by the late 1840s they were living there in the stone house Coryule, [3] overlooking Port Phillip Bay, built by Melbourne architect, Charles Laing.[4]

In June 1852 Anne Drysdale suffered a stroke and, after a period of invalidity, died on 11 May 1853. Newcomb inherited the property.[3]

Newcomb died in 1874 and was buried beside Anne Drysdale at Coryule; their remains were later moved to the Geelong Eastern Cemetery.[4]

Drysdale Circuit in the Canberra suburb of Kambah is named in her honour.[5]

References
  1. "The Lady Squatters". Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. Brown, P. L.; Martin, Jean I. (1966). Drysdale, Anne (1792–1853). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  3. Tout-Smith, Deborah. "Anne Drysdale, Pioneer Pastoralist, Victoria (1792-1853)". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 3 October 2017. This source incorporated text content that is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence
  4. Brown, P. L.; Martin, Jean I. "Newcomb, Caroline Elizabeth (1812–1874)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  5. "AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY NATIONAL MEMORIALS ORDINANCE 1928–1972". Australian Government Gazette (P4). Australia. 13 April 1976. p. 23. Retrieved 16 December 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
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