ROBERT RANKINE AND WILLIAM SYMINGTON OF BACCHUS MARSH

THEIR ENCOUNTER AT BACCHUS MARSH

Robert Rankine arranged to meet William Symington at Bacchus Marsh to clarify queries his father had posed in his correspondence about various Symington relatives and about a model of the Charlotte Dundas and other Symington relics which were in the Melbourne Museum.

ROBERT RANKINE 1868-1941

The only son of W.H. Rankine of Falkirk and great-grandson of William Symington. He was born in Chatham. He came to Melbourne in 1899 and set up a company, Rankine, Dobbie & Co., [1] which traded in military items. He was soon enrolled in the Commonwealth Military Force, rising rapidly to the rank of Captain.

As a member of the Militia, Robert Rankine was a Captain and staff officer in the First Battalion of the Victorian Scottish Regiment. For their Easter campaign in 1910, dressed in their service uniform of khaki tunic and helmet and plaid kilt, the Battalion set out on a route march from their home base in Melbourne to Ballarat. [2] Under the command of Captain Wanliss, 104 men and 8 officers took part. [3] On Good Friday, the contingent camped en route at Bacchus Marsh. [4] Five years later, as a member of the A.I.F, Major Rankine would take part in the Gallipoli landing and was awarded the D.S.O.

WILLIAM SYMINGTON 1840-1929

A grandson of the steamboat inventor, from the age of eighteen he had lived at Hopetoun, a small hamlet at the eastern entrance to Bacchus Marsh, on the coach route to the Ballarat goldfields. The family had emigrated to Australia in 1855, arriving at Melbourne. In 1858, his father established a brewery at Hopetoun, which operated for 34 years. [5] He had held important items relating to his grandfather, a bust, a copy of his patent and a model of the Charlotte Dundas built by his uncle Andrew Symington. These relics were given on loan to the Melbourne Museum.

[1] Rankine and Dobbie was registered in 1910, with Rankine's son Kenneth company Secretary. Victorian Government Gazette 8 June 1910 Page 2738

[2] The Age 26 March 1910 page 12

[3] The Argus 29 March 1910 page 6

[4] The Herald 24 March 1910 page 8

[5] Bacchus Marsh Herald 2 November 1919 page 3

THE MEETING

The encampment was situated in valley of the Lerderderg River at Hopetoun, within 200 yards of the Symington property.

Robert Rankine had contacted William Symington about his visit to Bacchus Marsh and brought with him a batch of recent correspondence from his father, relating to steam navigation (the letters reproduced here.)

In his position of staff officer, he was responsible for the organization of the Easter march to Ballarat. He left Melbourne on the Thursday evening and set up camp at Keilor. The troops arrived at midnight. After the troops had settled for the night, he departed for Bacchus Marsh.

The following account is an extract from a letter he wrote to his father on 30 March 1910: [1]

"I left for Bacchus Marsh in the full moonlight arriving there shortly after 2 in the morning. I pegged out the camp site and marked the watering places with flags, white for drinking and cooking, blue for the horse drinking (lower down stream) and red for bathing and washing (still further down). We were to camp on the Lerder-derg creek which is the nearest approach to Dorrater I have seen in Australia but the water is beautifully clean and clear. Within 200 yards there is a small disused brewery and small farm house with cultivation paddocks mostly Lucerne. At daybreak I went over to the farm to try and get some local information and found an elderly man very like you in build and general appearance with the exception that his beard was not torpedo. He told me he had lived there a great many years and with his father had conducted the brewery until the large chemical breweries had knocked it out and he took up farming. They appeared comfortable but I should not say with much to spare and we chatted away for an hour when he told me he was anxiously waiting for the troops to come for he was to see Capt. Rankine that day. He said his name was Symington and that in a very distant way the family was connected. I told him then who I was and took him over to the car where I had your letters stowed away. In the early morning we sat on the banks of the Lerder-derg and talked of you all."

William Symington explained the origins of the Symington relics in the Melbourne Museum, the cast of the head of William Symington, the model of the Charlotte Dundas and two lithographs which were taken from Dr. Bowie's narrative. The sketches bore the initials D.F., for the Rev. Duncan Fraser, a Presbyterian minister who had an interest and who had induced William Symington to lend these items for the 1888 Melbourne Exhibition.

Rankine learned that Symington and Fraser each had a copy of the Biography published in 1862 for John and W.H. Rankine.

Robert Rankine explained that he was writing all of this from memory at a time when he was "going hard and had no sleep."

Rankine wrote that he and Symington got on "famously": "he is a well educated, well spoken man with a fine clear skin like your own and quite a contrast to his two sons whom I saw. The younger one appeared to be little older than Kenneth (Rankine's son) but they were raw country lads."

After he had finished his work at the Marsh, Rankine met up with Symington again that afternoon and spent an hour with him at the Commercial Hotel, which was kept by Symington's sister, Mrs. Lovelock.

The troops arrived at 7 p.m. On Rankine's departure that night, Symington promised to send him a "full, true and particular" account.

On 2 April 1910, William Symington indeed wrote to W.H. Rankine with a detailed account of his family background and an explanation of the origins of the Symington relics in the Melbourne Museum.

[1] This extract can be found in the Symington file at the Glasgow Transport Museum, file number E1/1/3/7 and would have come from David Bell of Glasgow