Philip Levi


Philip Levi was an early settler and pastoralist of South Australia.
Born at Brixton Hill, Surrey, England, Levi arrived in South Australia at the age of sixteen, aboard the Eden in 1838 with his parents Nathaniel Philip Levi and Sarah Levi, and their five other children. He was involved in pastoral and mercantile businesses in the north of South Australia and became a well known and influential businessman. His pastoral interests involved sheep and cattle in various partnerships, many of which in the period 1855–1870 involved Alfred Watts. His shipping interests included, with Jacob Smith, a share in the Port Adelaide tug Goolwa. He was in 1863 one of the founders and a trustee of the Adelaide Club, where a portrait of him still hangs today.
In 1853, Levi purchased Vale House, located near the River Torrens, east of Adelaide. Over the next 96 years, it became one of the centres of social activity of Adelaide society.
In 1870 Levi's Company disposed of many of its properties including Moolooloo and Wirrealpa, Oulnina and Wadnaminga, Mount Margaret and Booleroo Station. Together these properties were stocked with over 70,000 sheep and 3,000 cattle.
He died at Vale House and was buried in the Jewish section of the West Terrace Cemetery, where his father was the first to be interred. His estate passed on to other members of his family, and in 1948, his niece left Vale House to the Town of Walkerville. He is remembered by Levi Caravan Park, which bears his name.

Family

Philip Levi's and Elizabeth Symes' children included:
Edmund Levi was a brother and business partner.