Person
Robertson, James Robert Millar (1844 - 1932)
- Born
- 11 February 1844
Renfrew, Scotland - Died
- 11 April 1932
Kirribilli, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Mining engineer
Summary
James Robertson arrived in Australia in 1880 and spent the next fifty years closely involved in the New South Wales coal industry and as geological consultant to mining operations elsewhere in Australia. He was also President of several royal commissions into accidents, including those at Lithgow, Tighe's Hill and Delta collieries, into the conditions of the Ferndale pit (1886) and into the Bulli colliery explosion (1887). By 1896 he was managing director of the Caledonian Coal Co. and director of the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Co., the North Coast Steam Navigation Co. and other colliery and shipping firms. Prior to arriving in Australia Robertson assisted in the management of his father's collieries and worked briefly as a medical officer to the 1st Battalion, 42nd Infantry Regiment (Black Watch) in India and Burma.
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Details
Chronology
- 1866
- Education - Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (ChM) completed at the University of Glasgow
- c. 1870 - c. 1871
- Career position - Engineer at Tharsis Co. (mining engineers) in Spain
- 1872 - 1880
- Career position - Consultant to British mining companies in Borneo, the Malay States, India and Burma
- 1880
- Life event - Migrated to Australia (Sydney)
- 1886
- Career position - President of the Royal Commission into the conditions of the Ferndale pit
- 1887
- Career position - President of the Royal Commission into the Bulli colliery explosion
- c. 1896 -
- Career position - Managing Director of the Caledonian Coal Co.
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
Book Sections
- Schmitz, Christopher, 'Robertson, James Robert Millar (1844-1932), Mining Engineer and Coal-Owner' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Geoffrey Serle, ed., vol. 11 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 416-417. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110425b.htm. Details
Journal Articles
- Robertson, James R.M., 'The Occurrence of Opals in Central Australia and Queensland', The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science, 45 (1882), 95-7, 101-104. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21539639. Details
- 'Robertson, James Robert Millar (1844-1932)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467260. Details
Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 5 March 2018