Alfred Davidson (1812–1881) was an English pottery owner and commission agent in Australia. He was a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Christian, a
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
Pioneer of Compassion (humanitarian) and the Queensland representative of the British
.
Life
Davidson was born in
Siston
Siston (pronounced "sizeton") is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is east of Bristol at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages a ...
parish,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on 21 June 1812, and he died in New Farm,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
on 7 November 1881, aged 69. He was son of the landed proprietor of Warmley House, George Madgwick Davidson and his wife Elisabeth Francis.
Following the death of his wife Phoebe Georgiana Simmonds, Davidson, who had been proprietor of the Warmley Tower Potteries in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, migrated to Queensland. He arrived at Brisbane on board the ''Light Brigade'' on 18 May 1863 as a 50-year-old widower and single father of three children: two daughters and a son. His motives for migration are not known, but he settled as a commission agent in
Fortitude Valley. He spent much of his time engaged in humanitarian aid and Christian (
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
) mission amongst
Melanesians
Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fa ...
and Aborigines in Brisbane and
Moreton Bay district.
Davidson was outraged at the general attitude towards indigenous people in Queensland, and made a name for himself as an outspoken humanitarian and representative in Queensland of
Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings by promoters of human bettermen ...
and the
in London. Frequently abused by fellow settlers, he continued to argue for the indigenous people and against what he saw as continual abuses of the rights of Islanders and Aboriginal people.
He was characterised by
John Douglas, as "a very excellent man".
Henry Reynolds described him as "a persistent and passionate advocate for justice for the aborigines" and "an unrelenting opponent of the Pacific Island labour trade." "Between September 1869 and his death in 1881", Reynolds wrote, "he scanned the colonial newspapers, wrote letters to them himself as well as to the government, lobbied politicians and governors" and dispatched a total of 36 letters to the London-based
, all on behalf of indigenous people in Queensland.
[Reynolds 1998, p102-3.]
Alfred Davidson, the potter, was grandfather to
Sir Alfred Charles Davidson, once the general manager of the
Bank of New South Wales (now
Westpac Bank
Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales.
Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...
).
Notes
References
* Ørsted-Jensen: Robert: ''The Right To Live - the Politics of Race and the Troubled Conscience of an Australian Journalist'' (yet unpublished Dr thesis and manuscript) chapters 4 and 6.
*
Reynolds, Henry: ''This Whispering In Our Hearts'', Sydney 1998, chapter 5, p102-5, 108.
External links
Davidson, Alfred— Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Alfred
1812 births
1881 deaths
Australian indigenous rights activists
Australian people of English descent
People from Siston