James Ainslie (1787–1844) was a
Scottish soldier and shepherd, best known as the first overseer of the property known as
Duntroon in the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
. During his time on the Limestone Plains he is said to have had a relationship with an Aboriginal woman. After 10 years at Duntroon, Ainslie returned to Scotland and after numerous offences committed suicide in jail in 1844.
[Henderson, Rowan. James Ainslie: Stranger than fiction nline Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 98, No. 2, Dec 2012: 227-248. Availability: ISSN: 0035-8762. ited 02 Nov 17]
The suburb
Ainslie, originally a part of Duntroon, is named after James Ainslie, as is
Mount Ainslie
Mount Ainslie is a hill with an elevation of that is located in the northeastern suburbs of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Mount Ainslie lies within part of the Canberra Nature Park.
Location and features
Mount Ains ...
.
Early life
James Ainslie was born in Roxburghshire Scotland (at the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
) in 1787. He became a soldier in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and fought in the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
as a member of the
Royal Scots Greys
The Royal Scots Greys was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guard ...
cavalry unit. He received a sabre wound to the head during the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
.
Ainslie married Betty Catteral in
Rufford, Lancashire
Rufford is a village in West Lancashire, England, where the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway, the A59 road, A59 and the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas meet.
Rufford is also a civil parish, which incl ...
in 1818. The couple had a son in 1820, also named James Ainslie. Before their child's first birthday, Betty died age 25.
Time in Australia
Leaving his son behind, James Ainslie traveled to
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in the ship ''Admiral Cockburn'', arriving in February 1825.
[ He was recruited by Robert Campbell in 1825 to establish a sheep station in the Limestone Plains of New South Wales. On his way from Bathurst to find an appropriate site for a sheep station, Ainslie and his convict labourers came across a terrified group of ]Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
near Booroowa. It is said that the Indigenous people had never seen sheep or white people before and believing Ainslie to be a dead spirit "sacrificed" a woman to him, who they had earlier "stolen" from down on the Yass plains. Ainslie was guided to the south-east by that woman and established Campbell's property, later named Duntroon in the area of present-day Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
In 1827 the unknown woman and James Ainslie had a daughter, called Ju Nin Mingo - or Nanny.
Ainslie ran Campbell's sheep station for around a decade, turning his flock of 700 sheep from Bathurst into a flock of 20,000 (after sales). It was during this time that Mount Ainslie
Mount Ainslie is a hill with an elevation of that is located in the northeastern suburbs of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Mount Ainslie lies within part of the Canberra Nature Park.
Location and features
Mount Ains ...
was named after him.
In November 1826, Campbell's station was robbed by the well-known bushrangers John Tennant and John Rix. With the aid of James Cowan and Duncan Macfarlane, who were overseers from the nearby properties owned by Joshua John Moore
Lieutenant Joshua John Moore (1790–1864), a grazier and large owner of land by occupation, was born to John Moore, yeoman farmer, at Horningsea, Cambridgeshire, England.
Not much is known about Moore's early life, until, on 25 December 1813, ...
and G.T. Palmer, Ainslie attempted to apprehend the bushranger
Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...
s, but failed. In January 1828, Tennant and Rix held up Moore's station and attempted to burn down Cowan's hut. Cowan, Ainslie and Macfarlane with the assistance of four local Aboriginal men and several police constables went out to capture the bushrangers dead or alive. The Aborigines led the group to the camp of Tennant and Rix, where Ainslie rushed into their tent to arrest Tennant. Other members of Ainslie's group started to shoot into the tent, wounding Tennant and Rix but fortunately missing Ainslie. The bushrangers were made captive and taken into custody, with Tennant later hanged.
For his services in capturing the bushrangers, Governor Ralph Darling
General Sir Ralph Darling, GCH (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. He is popularly described as a tyrant, accused of torturing prisoners and banning theatrical entertain ...
awarded Ainslie 100 acres of land in 1831. Ainslie later gave away this land grant to the son of Bargo
Bargo is a town in the Macarthur Region, New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire. It is approximately 100 km south west of Sydney.
It is situated between the township of Tahmoor (north) and the village of Yanderra (south) ...
innkeeper.
In January 1835, Robert Campbell announced there had been "irregularities and insubordination...occasioned by a iquorStore on a neighbouring Farm"[ and made it known that he would henceforth pay no more orders drawn by Mr Ainslie. Within two months of the announcement, Ainslie was making preparations to leave Australia. He advertised in the ''Sydney Herald'' that he was about to "quit the Colony".][
Leaving behind his partner and his daughter, Ainslie sailed on the ''Edinburgh'' to ]Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, 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 ...
from Sydney, departing 16 March 1835.[ From Liverpool, he made his way back to the Scottish Borders.
]
After his return to Scotland
Between 1835 and 1844 Ainslie was often in trouble with the law including for assaults and public nuisance. In 1841, court documents were prepared stating that Ainslie had "came home to see his son with the intention of returning to the Colony... but he has not yet found it convenient to return".[National Archives of Scotland, JC26/1842/603 (13) Trial papers relating to James Ainslie for the crime of assault, malicious mischief, breach of the peace at Mill Wynd, Kelso, Roxburgh][
On 11 April 1844, Ainslie committed suicide in ]Jedburgh Castle Jail
Jedburgh Castle was a castle at Jedburgh in Scotland. It was fought over during the Wars of Scottish Independence, and was demolished by the Scots commanded by Sir James Douglas of Balvenie in 1409. The site of the original castle was used to b ...
aged 60. He hanged himself while awaiting trial for a charge of assault.[
]
References
Further reading
* ''Exploring the ACT and Southeast New South Wales'', J. Kay McDonald, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1985
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ainslie, James
Australian pastoralists
Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia
Scottish businesspeople
19th-century Australian businesspeople
Suicides by hanging in Scotland
1787 births
1844 deaths
19th-century British businesspeople
People who committed suicide in prison custody