William Deuchar Gordon (19 June 1871 – 11 September 1951) was an Australian

pastoralist Pastoralist may refer to: * Pastoralism, raising livestock on natural pastures * Pastoral farming, settled farmers who grow crops to feed their livestock * People who keep or raise sheep, sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the r ...

. He was born into a socially prominent

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 ...

rural family and was president of the Australian Club.

Early life

Gordon was born at the now heritage listed rural

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses *Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...

Manar House near

Braidwood, New South Wales Braidwood is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council. It is located on the Kings Highway linking Canberra with Batemans Bay. It is approximately 200 kilometres south west of Syd ...

, the second son of William Forbes Gordon and Beatrice Deuchar (née Allan) and was always known by his second Christian name of Deuchar. The Gordon family had arrived in New South Wales in 1836 from Scotland.Gordon, H. McL. and Kelleher, S. (1991). The Gordons of Manar In Australia, pp. 97–105. He attended Newington College in 1882 during the presidency of the Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher and headmastership of

Joseph Coates Joseph Coates (13 November 1844 – 9 September 1896) was an English-born Australian schoolmaster and cricketer. Early life Coates was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, the son of Joseph, a cordwainer, and his wife Ellen. While at Hud ...

. After finishing school he worked as a book-keeper and accountant before returning to work on the land.

Pastoralist

In 1891, Gordon returned to Manar and remained there until his marriage in 1901 to Charlotte Louise (Bunty) Campbell. The Gordons lived for the next decade at

Werriwa The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division ...

, another family property near Bungendore, and had four children. In 1912 they returned to Manar where Gordon lived until his death. During that time he consolidated and expanded his land holding to 26,000 acres. On his death, Gordon left an estate of £258,727.

Community service

In 1905, Gordon became a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. He served as President of the Braidwood Hospital Board, Chairman of the Pastures Protection Board and Chairman of the Braidwood branch of the Graziers Association of NSW.

Company director

Gordon accepted the seat on the Board of Perpetual Trustee Company (Limited) that was made vacant by the resignation of Joe Abbott on his appointment to the Federal Cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Deuchar 1871 births 1951 deaths People educated at Newington College Businesspeople from Sydney Australian pastoralists Australian people of Scottish descent