George Melrose was a Scottish pioneer of South Australia, whose descendants were prominent in pastoral and professional circles.
History
George Melrose, the last surviving son of John Melrose of Balerno, Scotland, left his homeland on the Palmyra, arriving in 1839. He gained experience as a sheep farmer; first on the Bremer River, then at Macclesfield with Walter W. Hughes; next at Mount Barker with Robert Lawson of Padthaway; then took up land on the South Rhine, the foundation of what would become "Rosebank", his Mount Pleasant property. All the neighboring country having been taken up, he embarked on a number of exploratory expeditions, mostly east of the Murray, and in 1846 started to invest in the Lake Victoria region, and moved there with his new wife in 1847. After squatting there for seven years negotiations with the New South Wales governmentbroke down, and the lease was awarded to someone else, so he returned to Mount Pleasant, which he and his family built up over the decades. The homestead was built in 1858. He later also purchased "Wangaraleednie", Borthwick Brae, and Ulooloo runs.
Family
On 24 May 1847 he married Euphemia Thomson, a daughter of John Thomson originally of Kirkaldy, Scotland, who arrived in South Australia aboard Moffatt in December 1839 and settled at "Lily Bank", Mount Pleasant. Their children were:
George Thorburn Melrose, of "Rosebank"
James Melrose, of Wangaraleednie Station, Franklin Harbor; later of "Glenwood", Aldgate, married Isabel Mary Edhouse on 6 August 1881. They had five children. He sold up the station and moved to "Glenwood", Aldgate, destroyed by fire in April 1900 and rebuilt. Their family included:
Sir John Melrose, of Ulooloo, lost his sight in 1901. He was a noted philanthropist. He married Emily Eliza Edhouse on 17 April 1886. They had three children:
Robert Thomson Melrose, of Rosebank; pastoralist and politician. He married Gwendoline Grace Lawrie they had no children.
Alexander "Alex" Melrose, a lawyer, was partner with Hermann Homburg in Homburg & Melrose, Adelaide. His significant donations to the Art Gallery of South Australia were commemorated in the Melrose Gallery. He never married.
