Biographical entry: Reid, James Smith (1849 - 1922)
- Born
- 1849
- Died
- 1922
Summary
Personal and family records 1840-1961. James Reid, the second son of a Presbyterian Minister was born in County Donegal Ireland, and migrated with his family to Australia in 1863, where his father established the first Presbyterian ministry in Bowen. In partnership with his brother William, James Reid made an early career in journalism, between 1870 and 1877 establishing the Ravenswood Miner, the Northern Miner in Charters Towers, the Cooktown Courier and the Hodgkinson Mining News. The brothers then transferred to New South Wales, where they set up a pastoral newspaper in Wilcannia, and then the Silver Age at Silverton. Reid began acquiring mining interests which extended throughout Australia; he was a director of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company and a prime mover in the flotation of the Silverton Railway Company, the Tarrawingee Flux Company, the Emu Bay Railway Company and the Chillagoe Company. He owned two estates, Rostrevor in Magill, South Australia, and Duneira at Mount Macedon, Victoria. The records have been classified into four groups as follows:
A. Correspondence: February 1890-December 1964.
1. Letters from J.S. Reid to his wife Martha.
2. Other letters to Martha Reid.
3. Letters from Martha Reid to her husband.
4. Other letters to J.S. Reid.
5. Letters from J.S. Reid to his children.
6. Letters from Martha Reid to her children.
7. Letters from William Douglas Reid.
8. Letters to Miss Margery Smith Reid.
9. Letters to Helen Braund and family.
10. Miscellaneous.
The letters contain details of business tours, including two trips to north Queensland in July-August 1899 and June 1901, they have references to Townsville, Cairns, Chillagoe, Mareeba, Mount Garnet, Irvinebank, etc. Elsewhere is reference to early Bowen, Mount Mulligan mining operations 1893, 1920-1921, also details of business negotiations, industrial matters, company board meetings etc.
B. Other Personal Papers of the Reid Family. Include family diaries 1840-1848, 1888-1891, family documents, inventories, financial records from 1888.
C. Printed matter.
1. Periodicals, booklets etc.
2. Newspaper and periodical extracts including various obituaries.
3. Miscellaneous collection of invitations, programmes, visitors' cards etc.
D. Photographs.
Considerable collection of albums and individual prints, chiefly family portraits and groups. U.M.A.