Biographical entry: Towns, Robert (1794 - 1873)
- Born
- 1794
- Died
- 1873
Summary
Miscellaneous papers. Merchant, entrepreneur and politician, Robert Towns settled in Sydney in 1843, and became agent for Robert Brooks and Company of London. Towns later entered a successful trade first in supplying trepang and sandal-wood to China, and then in association with Captain James Paddon he achieved a monopoly of trade in the Pacific Islands; his interests expanded to include whaling, meat packing, coal and the general import business. From 1855 in partnership with Sir Alexander Stuart he acquired extensive pastoral interests, he planted cotton and in 1863 Towns introduced Pacific Island labour to his Lagoon River cotton plantation. He became increasingly prominent in colonial mercantile and financial affairs and was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1856. Robert Towns subscribed to G.E. Dalrymple's northem expedition of 1869, and was one of the first land takers when the Kennedy District was opened in 1861. He was instrumental in the foundation of the port of Townsville in 1864, largely to serve as a service centre for his northern squatting runs, which he soon extended west to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Towns tried cotton and sugar growing in the Townsville area without success, and with the financial crisis and pastoral slump, which occurred from 1865, Towns and Co. had withdrawn their financial commitment from north Queensland by approximately 1870. Robert Towns was married to Sophia, sister of W.C. Wentworth in 1833, he died at his home Cranbrook in Sydney in April 1873.
Letters. Robert Towns to the captain of his labour recruiting vessel Don Juan, May-July 1863, with instructions on the securing of Pacific Island labour, and the type of recruits most desirable, three holograph letters.
Contract agreement. Between Robert Towns and the captain of the ship [1863?].
Historical notes on Robert Towns, previously held by A.A. Morrison. FAMILY FILE.