Robert Smart 1828-1915
Obituary The Register Adelaide SA 23/8/15
Our Narridy correspondent writes:— The death occurred on Monday last of an old and esteemed resident in the person of Mr. Robert Smart, in his eighty eighth year. He had resided in Narridy for 36 years, and was a pioneer of 76 years, having arrived in South Australia in 1839. He was born in Glasgow in 1828, and when 11 years old was brought to South Australia by his father, the late Mr. John Smart, in the ship Ariadne. As a boy he tended sheep for Mr. J. W. White, of the Reedbeds. He lived with hia father in Rundle street, near Primrose's Brewery, the parent's occupation being the cartage of water from the River Torrens for use in the brewery. Among Mr. Smart's early memories were a double public execution in Adelaide, on North terrace, in front of the site of the Institute, and the execution of the bushranger Stagg in front of the gaol. The latter denied that he was guilty of the crime for which he was hanged, to which a police trooper afterwards confessed, but admitted that he had wrapped a man in a bullock's hide and burned him to death. A third punishment which deceased witnessed - was the flogging of an aboriginal at the top of Hindley street. The family subsequently moved to the Gorge, and later to the Metcalf section, on Sixth Creek. The deceased and his late brother (Mr. Charles Smart) were engaged in carting by bullock team copper ore from the Burra Mine to Port Adelaide. The Smarts soon afterwards settled at Golden Grove, where the deceased returned after a successful nine months at the Forest Creek diggings in Victoria. On the way to the diggings the party with which Mr. Smart was connected was attacked near the Coorong by an over whelming number of aboriginals, who took the ducks the white men had shot and demanded their weapons. The lives of the travellers were probably only spared by the timely arrival of another team, on the approach of which the blacks fled. For years the deceased remained in the Golden Grove district, and was trustee for the local cemetery. He then moved to Narridy where he engaged in farming. In 1851 the deceased married Miss K. A. Roberts, a daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, the first captain of the Burra copper mines. There are four daughters, Miss R. Smart, Mrs. John Nicholson and Mrs. George Weston, of Narridy and Mrs. Bert Fidock of New South Wales, and six sons. Messrs John Smart, of Belalie North; Thomas, Robert, William, and Alex Smart, of Redhill; and Arthur Smart, of Narridy: also 37 grand children and eight great-grandchildren. Deceased had been a reader of The Observer for years.
What a great find!
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