William Patrick Auld (27 May 1840 – 2 September 1912), usually known as W.P. Auld, Pat or Patrick, was an

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

n vigneron and wine merchant born in

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

(near

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

). He took part in

John McDouall Stuart John McDouall Stuart (7 September 18155 June 1866), often referred to as simply "McDouall Stuart", was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to tra ...

's sixth expedition (Dec 1861 – Dec 1862) which successfully crossed Australia from south to north.Expedition Six
The South Australian Great Northern Exploring Expedition, December 1861 to December 1862, John McDouall Stuart's Companions, John McDouall Stuart Society He was also a member of

B. T. Finniss Boyle Travers Finniss (18 August 1807 – 24 December 1893) was the first premier of South Australia, serving from 24 October 1856 to 20 August 1857. Early life Finniss was born at sea off the Cape of Good Hope, Southern Africa, and lived in ...

's 1864 expedition to select a capital for the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, during which an incident occurred resulting in his being tried for murder of an Aboriginal man. For many years he managed his father's famous vineyard, "Auldana" in the eastern foothills, and was recognised as an accomplished vigneron and wine judge. The suburb Auldana is located on the site of the vineyard.

Father founds "Auldana"

Patrick and Eliza Auld, with son William Patrick and daughters Agnes and Georgiana, arrived in South Australia on 6 April 1842 on the ,1842 ~ Patrick Auld
South Australian AULDs, The AULDs and connected families, www.tizzana.com.au as did

James Philcox James Philcox (22 January 1812 – 31 March 1893) was an English land speculator and property developer in the 1840s and 1850s in the colony of South Australia. He is credited with naming the inner eastern Adelaide suburb of Marryatville as well a ...

. The father set up as a wine and spirit merchant in the Old Exchange Buildings in

Hindley Street Hindley Street is located in the north-west quarter of the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It runs between King William Street and West Terrace. The street was named after Charles Hindley, a British parliamentarian and soc ...

and shortly after purchased two lots of land, each of 230 acres at £1 per acre,Bishop, Geoffrey C. ''The Vineyards of Adelaide'' Lynton Publications, Adelaide, 1977 in Magill which he named "Auldana". In 1847 or 1849 the father sold the Hindley Street business to Messrs. Disher and Milne and the family returned to England, enrolling the son at an institution named "King's College", perhaps

King's College School King's College School, also known as Wimbledon, KCS, King's and KCS Wimbledon, is a public school in Wimbledon, southwest London, England. The school was founded in 1829 by King George IV, as the junior department of King's College London and ...

. The father returned to Adelaide alone in 1852, building a residence on one block of "Auldana" and between 1846 and 1856 developed the other as a vineyard which in February 1862 he floated the South Auldana Vineyard Association with a capital of £12,500. Directors of the Association were Abraham Scott,

George Tinline George Tinline (28 October 1815 – 4 February 1895) was a nineteenth-century South Australian banker and politician. Tinline made his fortune when the Bank of South Australia created 25,000 guinea coins solving a currency crisis caused by a gol ...

(banker and uncle of

Sir George Murray Sir George Murray (6 February 1772 – 28 July 1846) was a British soldier and politician from Scotland. Background and education Murray was born in Perth, Scotland, the second son of Sir William Murray, of Ochtertyre, 5th Baronet (see Murra ...

), John Hodgkiss, Patrick Auld and William Wadham. In 1863 they sent a shipment of wines to the London Exhibition which was favourably received, but the Association went into voluntary liquidation in October 1865. Around this time he set up a wine export business in Gilbert Place. In 1876 he had 104 acres under vines.

Education and employment

In 1853 or 1854, the family returned to South Australia where a young W. P. Auld completed his education at J. L. Young's

Adelaide Educational Institution Adelaide Educational Institution was a privately run non-sectarian academy for boys in Adelaide founded in 1852 by John Lorenzo Young.B. K. Hyams'Young, John Lorenzo (1826–1881)' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, Melbourne Unive ...

, and secured a cadet position with G. W. Goyder, Surveyor General of South Australia.Death of Mr. W. P. Auld
''The Advertiser'' 3 September 1912 p. 9 accessed 21 February 2011

Stuart's sixth expedition

In 1861, W. P. Auld he was selected to join the sixth Stuart expedition. :''John McDouall Stuart officially set out on 25 October 1861 from ... the residence of James and Catherine Chambers in North Adelaide''. The party physically left Adelaide on 7 November. ''This was his third, and ultimately successful attempt to cross Australia.'' On 24 July 1862, they planted the Union Jack on the beach of Van Diemen's Gulf. ''The Expedition completed the first European crossing of Australia, from Adelaide to Van Diemen Gulf, passing through the Centre of the Continent, and returning along the same route without loss of life.''The South Australian Great Northern Exploring Expedition 1861–1862
johnmcdouallstuart.org.au

The Finniss expedition

In 1864 the South Australian government charged

with finding a suitable site by the

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branch ...

for the capital of the

to be called "Palmerston". Auld, employed as a chainman, was one of the party of 40 that left Port Adelaide on the barque "Henry Ellis" on 29 April 1864 for Adam Bay. He, with several other young "labourers", aroused considerably antagonism among the officer class in the expedition by receiving preferential treatment from Finniss, one of several sources of dissension in a rather dysfunctional organization. He was a member of the exploration party led by surgeon

Belgrave Ninnis Inspector-General Belgrave Ninnis (1 September 1837 – 18 June 1922) was a Royal Navy surgeon, surveyor, Arctic explorer, and leading Freemason, from London. He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of St Andrews in 1861, and ...

which explored areas west of the Adelaide River as far as Howard River and King Creek on HMS ''Beatrice'' and arrived at Port Darwin in April 1865.

Murders of Aborigines

During the Finniss expedition Auld was involved in a punitive expedition against a tribe of Aborigines from Chambers Bay, some from

Escape Cliffs Escape Cliffs is a place on the northern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia and the site of the fourth of a series of four failed attempts to establish permanent settlement in Australia's Top End. The previous attempts were at Fort D ...

, who had stolen goods and seriously wounded several horses with their spears. During this action an aboriginal man was shot, presumed dead, and Auld was accused of the crime. (from a letter from Auld to his father) :''The Colonel'' (Finniss) ''then gave orders that seven horsemen were to be in readiness to start next morning and try to find the natives' camp, and recover the goods they had stolen from us, and to treat them as felons. I went over to Chambers' Bay with two men, acting as scouts. Fifty (natives) tried to surround us. I shot at one, and sent one of the men to tell the footmen to come to our assistance. They were showing real fighting. Directly the footmen made their appearance the blacks disappeared like magic into the shrub. We recovered a quantity of the stores and goods. The Doctor,'' (Dr Walker, Protector of Aborigines) ''I believe, has brought a charge against me for shooting the black. He sent it to the Governor, but he would not receive it; so I hear be intends sending it to Adelaide. It is only done out of ill-feeling to the Colonel.''The Northern Expedition
South Australian Advertiser 17 December 1864 p. 3 accessed 21 February 2011 In another letter, he wrote :''The natives are not very numerous here, but they are great thieves and very cunning and artful. There have been two shot by our party here; one, I think was justifiable, and the other a cold-blooded murder.'' The two deaths referred to were presumably that inflicted by Alaric Ward (no relation to

Ebenezer Ward Ebenezer Ward (4 September 1837 – 8 October 1917) was an Australian politician and journalist. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1870 to 1880 and from 1881 to 1890, representing Gumeracha (1870–1880), Burra (18 ...

, mentioned below) on 9 August 1864 and that of 8 September 1864 for which Auld was charged. At the trial no evidence was brought for the prosecution, rather there was a report that the man shot at (named Dombey or Bombey) was still alive. Auld was acquitted when the two witnesses did not take the stand (one, Francis James Packard, brother of H. D. Packard, had drowned in the

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and the other, a man named McDougall, left for England once he reached Melbourne. Auld, rather than counting his blessings, aroused considerable public antipathy by then attempting to claim costs from parliament, a move which was defeated after strenuous opposition from (among others) H.B.T. Strangways, who was contemptuous of Auld's defence that he was following Finniss's orders.

Back in Adelaide

On 1 September Police trooper Potter was sent to Adam Bay 23 September 1866 on the "Ellen Lewis" with warrants for the arrest of Auld's fellow-accused William Dougall and Adam Chandler. Auld (who had returned earlier, perhaps on the "Coorong" on 6 April 1866) had already been charged and was out on bail. On 15 November 1866 he married Eliza Hartland Strawbridge (1842? – 20 February 1916), eldest daughter of William S. Strawbridge (1843–1911), who replaced Goyder as Surveyor General. Eliza wrote poetry in collaboration with her mother, Eliza Stockholm Strawbridge (1818–1897). and published a volume of her own in 1913. :Their daughter, Edith Mary Auld (30 October 1867–25 August 1928) married Edward E. Cleland. :Elder son William George "George" Auld (3 December 1868 – 24 February 1926) was for some time partner in W. P. Auld and Sons. He was elected auditor for the District of Burnside. and for some years councillor for the East Norwood ward of the Town of Kensington and Norwood council. and was a longtime secretary of the Phylloxera Board and president of the South Australian Winegrowers' Association. As a young man he was a keen rower and lacrosse player and later served in executive positions associated with these sports. He was a lover of horses and rode with the

Adelaide Hunt Club The Adelaide Hunt Club is an Australian fox hunting club founded in the 1840s. History Originally called The Adelaide Hounds, the club was founded in Adelaide in the early 1840s.Adelaide Hunt Club. As early as 3 July 1841, the Governor of South ...

. He was a voracious reader and admirer of

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

; he was a member of

Union Parliament The Union Parliament ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်) was the bicameral legislature of the Union of Burma from 1948 to 1962, when it was disbanded by the Union Revolutionary Council. It consisted of an upper h ...

. :Younger son Ernest Patrick "Pat" Auld (10 March 1870 – 2 November 1938) was at one time partner in W. P. Auld and Sons, then manager of Tusmore branch of Triton Insurance. He was foundation president of

Kensington Cricket Club The Kensington District Cricket Club ("The Browns") is a semi-professional cricket club in Adelaide, South Australia. It competes in the South Australian Grade Cricket League, which is administered by the South Australian Cricket Association (SAC ...

, secretary of the South Australian branch of the

Royal Empire Society The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote the value of the Commonwealth and the values upon which it is based. The Society upholds the values of the Commonwealth Charter, promoting conf ...

and for several years president of the Adelaide Dual Club, whose aims were the appreciation of arts and science. :A son, born 24 September 1871, lived only a few hours. :Another daughter, Eliza Adeline (3 September 1872 – 19 December 1872), died of whooping cough.

Auldana Vineyard

In 1869 his father Patrick returned to England to advance his wine business, opening the Auldana Vineyard Office at Walbrook House at 37 Walbrook Street, London EC in 1869. In 1870 he handed the business over to Messrs. Leigh and Apps Smith, and the office was moved to

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...

. In 1871 he formed a partnership Auld, Burton and Co. of Mill Street, behind Hanover Square, to handle his wines. In 1882 Mr. Hally Burton declared himself bankrupt and the trustees sold his share of the business to his assistant Mr. Cocks, who was then stripped of his franchise for unauthorised use of the "Auldana" brand. Around this time the business was renamed Australian Wine Co with an

emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

for its logo and was in 1885 sold to Aylwin Pownall and as Emu Wine Co. became a major importer of Australian wines to Britain and Canada. Around 1881, in failing health, Patrick and his daughter moved to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

where he spent his last years, dying at Norman Hill, a suburb of

Onehunga Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is south of the Auckland CBD, city centre, close to the volcano, volcanic cone of Maungakiekie / One Tree ...

near

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1886, aged 75.

W. P. Auld and Sons Ltd.

In 1888, after his father's death, W. P. Auld sold "Auldana" to its mortgagee

Josiah Symon Sir Josiah Henry Symon (27 September 184629 March 1934) was an Australian lawyer and politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 1901 to 1913 and Attorney-General of Australia from 1904 to 1905. Symon was born in Wick, Caithness, ...

, leaving his home of 43 years. but retained the Gilbert Place business, which in 1910 became W. P. Auld and Sons Ltd. with his sons W. G. "George" Auld and E. P. Auld as executive officers. It is not recorded whether W. P. Auld retained any interest in the company. George Auld was for many years the company's traveller and E. P. Auld was secretary at least until 1914. In 1923 the company became part of Adelaide Wine and Spirit Co. Ltd. at Hackney Road, Hackney with Walkerville Cooperative Brewing Co. Ltd. the major shareholders, and W. G. Auld as chairman and president. The company was liquidated in 1940. George was for several years president of the Vinegrowers' Association. A third-generation descendant of W. P. Auld, Michael Auld, was manager of Stonyfell Winery's vineyards and cellars around 1950 and a fourth-generation descendant, George Patrick Auld, was in 1977 managing director of Angle Vale Vineyards Pty. Ltd.

Public life

In 1893 he was elected president of the South Australian Vignerons' Association. For many years he was a member of the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of South Australia and frequently served as a wine judge. He was a keen horseman (he often rode with

Adam Lindsay Gordon Adam Lindsay Gordon (19 October 1833 – 24 June 1870) was a British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He was the first Australian poet to gain considerable recognition overseas, and according to his contemporary, writer ...

) and a foundation member of the

. He was a council member of the Adelaide branch of the

Royal Geographic Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

and at one time president of the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

. As a younger man he was interested in amateur theatricals, and was, with W. S. Strawbridge and old-school chum W. H. Phillipps, a member of the Clayton Young Men's Society, and again with Phillipps, the Norwood Young Men's Society He served for a time as councillor for the Magill ward in the District of Burnside. He was also an active member of the South Australian Free Rifle Corps.

Family

W.P. was the son of Patrick Auld (1811 – 21 January 1886) and Eliza Auld (née McKinnell, 1806 – 8 July 1873).'Auld, Patrick (1811–1886)'
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 60–61. Patrick Auld (1811 – 21 January 1886) married Eliza McKinnell (1806 – 8 July 1873) c. 1835 *Agnes Auld (c. 1837 – 24 June 1886) married James Pollard (c. 1833 – 6 November 1900) on 10 November 1859, lived at

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

then

Eudunda Eudunda is a rural town in South Australia, roughly 103 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, established in 1870 after settlers began moving into the area in the 1860s. As of the 2006 census, Eudunda had a population of 640. Eudunda is in the Regio ...

. *Georgina Auld (1838 – 28 November 1917) never married and lived with her father towards the end of his life;Death of Mr. Patrick Auld
''South Australian Register'' 8 February 1886 p. 5 accessed 20 February 2011 died at the home of her niece Edith Mary Cleland. *William Patrick Auld (27 May 1840 – 2 September 1912) married Eliza Hartland Strawbridge (c. 1842 – 20 February 1916) on 15 November 1866 (more details above) :*Edith Mary Auld (30 October 1867 – 25 August 1928) married Edward Erskine Cleland (c. 1869 – 1 July 1943) on 12 April 1893 :*William George "George" Auld (3 December 1868 – 24 February 1926) married Ellen Howard "Nellie" Clark (30 July 1861 – 4 November 1936) on 12 August 1893. Nellie was a daughter of John Howard Clark. :*Ernest Patrick "Pat" Auld (10 March 1870 – 2 November 1938) Two of Patrick's brothers also migrated to South Australia: John Auld (1796 – 3 August 1860) arrived in SA in 1835, possibly overland. He was a publican in Adelaide, then of

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

. He married Isabella Steele on 20 April 1850. They had no children. Thomas Kirkpatrick Auld (1808 – ) immigrated September 1839 aboard ''Glenswilly''. He was publican of "Walkers Arms", Walkerville 1847–1852, when it was transferred to John Mundy. He was declared insolvent 1849, and dropped out of sight. He married Marian Hutchison (died c. 1846) on 19 June 1843, then married Georgina Waters (died 28 November 1917) in August 1847. He appeared to have had no surviving children.

Recognition

Auld's Lagoon and the district Auld, both in the greater Darwin area are named for him. Fred's Pass, in the Daly Ranges, and Fred's Pass Road (which, extended, became the Stuart Highway) were named by him for his fellow-explorer Fred Litchfield, whose name is also commemorated in the nearby Litchfield shire. The outer Darwin suburb of Fred's Pass is linked to the name of the old road, not the Pass itself. The Adelaide suburb of Auldana stands on the site of the old vineyard. One street is named Patrick Auld Drive; others are named for grape varieties: Hermitage Road, Traminer Way, Shiraz Place, Verdelho Court.