1974.0084 Ritchie Family and Business Correspondence

In 1842 James Ritchie took out a license covering the area that became the Blackwood run. Freehold was secured, and the ownership successively passed to James' brothers Daniel (a doctor who had previously served nineteen years as a Royal Navy surgeon) and John, then to Daniel's son Robert (also a businessman and politician), his son Alan and grandson Robin Ritchie. The successive Ritchie generations have nurtured the prosperous pastoral interests, particularly their merino stud. The final fourteen years of Ritchie ownership of Blackwood saw ownership pass onto Jason and Dan Ritchie (sons of Robin Ritchie and grandsons of Alan Ritchie). They transformed the property from being largely livestock based to being a viable cropping enterprise with wheat, barley and canola being most commonly sown each year. The property was sold to investors in early 2014.

Daniel Ritchie was born Blyth Peeblesshire Scotland in 1816, the fifth child of James Ritchie and Lillias Linton. He attended Edinburgh University where he graduated as a doctor of Medicine and then joined the Royal Navy as a Surgeon His tours of duty during this time took him to the West Indies (combating the slave trade), the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea (during the Crimean War) and the penal settlements at Hobart and Fremantle, an experience that lead to him becoming a major critic of the transportation of prisoners and he wrote several essays criticising the system. Upon the death of his brother James in 1857, Daniel and his newly married wife Janet Roy sailed to Australia to take over the management of James' property "Blackwood" in Western Victoria. Daniel expanded "Blackwood" and became active in the community becoming President of the Mount Rousse Shire and was influential in the establishment of the first Presbyterian church and State School in the area. Daniel and Janet had 5 children and he died whilst visiting Scotland in 1865.

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