Sir George Philip Doolette (24 January 1840 – 19 January 1924) was a mining entrepreneur and chairman of the Western Australian Mine Owners' Association. He was an investor in mining ventures, and one of the financial pioneers of the West Australian goldfields.
Biography
Early years
George Philip Doolette was born on 24 January 1840 at Sandford near Dublin, Ireland, the son of a carpenter, George Dorham Doolette, and of his wife Elizabeth 'Eliza' (née Reynard).R. M. Gibbs & A. McLeary (1981), Sir George Philip Doolette (1840–1924), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 8 August 2024.Janet Callen (2004), What Really Happened to the Nashwauk? Moana, South Australia 1855, City of Mitchum website; accessed 8 August 2024. George's maternal uncle, a carpenter named George Reynard, had emigrated to South Australia within a few years of the colony's establishment, arriving at Adelaide in December 1837 aboard the Navarino.Navarino 1837, State Library of South Australia website; accessed 9 August 2024.
In 1855 fifteen year-old George emigrated with his parents to South Australia on the immigrant ship Nashwauk. The ship left Liverpool on 13 February 1855 with 300 (mostly Irish) migrants on board. In the early hours of 13 May, as the Nashwauk neared its destination, the ship ran aground in two fathoms of water near the mouth of the Onkaparinga River, nineteen miles (30 km) from Adelaide. During the following afternoon the passengers were landed and taken to nearby Noarlunga township. The Melbourne steamer and the government schooner Yatala were sent to the scene. Many of the passengers were taken across the Onkaparinga River to Port Noarlunga from where they were conveyed to Adelaide aboard the Melbourne and the Yatala, and the remainder were transported from Noarlunga by bullock-drays.Wreck of the Nashwauk, Adelaide Observer, 19 May 1855, page 8.
After arriving at Adelaide the Doolette family initially stayed in George Reynard's family home at Norwood.
Adelaide
Before emigrating to South Australia with his parents, George had worked for two years "in the soft goods trade". In Adelaide he found a job as cashier with the drapery firm of McNicol and Young, where he worked for two and a half years. Around 1858 he joined the firm of Messrs. A. Macgeorge & Co., tailors, hatters and outfitters of Hindley Street (and later King William Street, Adelaide). A. Macgeorge & Co. had been established in 1849 and was the leading drapery business in Adelaide.J. J. Pascoe (ed.) (1901), History of Adelaide and Vicinity: With a General Sketch of the Province of South Australia and Biographies of Representative Men, Adelaide: Hussey & Gillingham, page 445.Mr. G. P. Doolette, Observer (Adelaide), 19 January 1907, page 29.
Doolette's father died of a "disease of the heart" on 20 June 1863, aged 49, at 'Sandford Cottage' in the Adelaide suburb of Kensington.Family Notices, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 23 June 1863, page 2.
On 9 November 1865 George Doolette married Mary Bartlett McEwin, the eldest daughter of orchardist George McEwin. The marriage was conducted at McEwin's 'Glen Ewin' estate, in the Adelaide Hills near Houghton, South Australia.Family records, Ancestry.com. The couple lived initially at Kensington and were closely connected with the local Clayton Congregational Church. They later moved to a North Terrace residence in the city where they attended Stow Memorial Church.The Late Mrs. Doolette, Christian Colonist (South Australia), 28 February 1890, page 6. The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter, born in the period 1869 to 1876.
By 1864 Doolette had been appointed as manager of A. Macgeorge & Co. and assistant to the proprietor Alexander Macgeorge.Police Court - Adelaide, South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide), 17 March 1864, page 3; Law and Criminal Courts: Larceny by a Servant, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 12 May 1864, page 3. In about 1867 Doolette was made a partner in the drapery business with Macgeorge. Doolette was an active member of the South Australian Chamber of Manufactures after its formation in May 1869.Chamber of Manufactures, Gawler Times, 4 June 1869, page 2; General News, The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 5 January 1870, page 2.
In May 1873 Doolette opened his own drapery business, Messrs. G. Doolette & Co., at Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. It was reported that "Mr. Doolette comes to the Peninsula with a high reputation in the trade, obtained in Adelaide".We notice that Messrs. G. Doolette & Co..., The Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal (Port Wallaroo), 17 May 1873, page 2. His business in Moonta was the local agent for the Adelaide Marine and Fire Assurance Company.Public Companies, Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News, 23 May 1873, page 4. While living at Moonta Doolette invested in the South Moonta Mining Company and in June 1874 he chaired a meeting of shareholders of the company.South Moonta Mining Company, Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News, 12 June 1874, page 3.
In March 1875, following the retirement of Alexander Macgeorge, Doolette left Moonta to return to Adelaide after becoming the sole proprietor of Messrs. Macgeorge & Co.Valedictory, Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' and Farmers' Journal, 9 March 1875, page 2. After the transfer of the business Doolette operated from the same premises in King William Street under his own name.Transfer of Business, Evening Journal (Adelaide), 10 February 1875, page 1.Overcoats for the Winter, South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide), 29 May 1875, page 1. The business continued operating until 1890.
In 1880 George and Mary Doolette left South Australia for a visit to Europe and Britain. They left from Adelaide on 16 May 1880 aboard the R.M.S. Hydaspes and arrived in England in August.Passengers by the Mail, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 15 May 1880, page 4; Shipping, Adelaide Observer, 14 August 1880, page 29. While the couple were in Scotland Mary Doolette suffered a severe attack of bronchitis. George and Mary Doolette arrived back in Australia in January 1881 via the R.M.S. Hydaspes.Shipping Intelligence, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 10 January 1881, page 4.
In the 1880s when land in suburban Adelaide at Parkside and Unley was subdivided for sale, Doolette "was a heavy buyer" of allotments for investment purposes.Land Sales, Adelaide Observer, 4 November 1882, page 21. In Adelaide Doolette was a respected businessman and a supporter of philanthropic causes. In 1887 he was appointed as a justice of the peace. He served as vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1884-85, president of the Congregational Union in 1885-86 and was an office-bearer of the London Missionary Society.
Doolette's eldest son, George McEwin Doolette, died on 22 June 1888 at the family home at Blackwood, aged eighteen years. The cause of his death was described as "consumption of the throat". George had worked in his father's business after leaving school. In 1887, "in order to acquire greater experience", he travelled to London where he worked "in a business house", but became ill over the English winter. He returned to Adelaide in April 1888, but succumbed to his illness two months later.Obituary, Christian Colonial (South Australia), 29 June 1888, page 5.
In 1889 Doolette and Philip Charley formed a partnership to purchase 'Narrung' station on Lake Albert, near the mouth of the Murray River.In the Lakes Districts: Through Poltalloch and Narrung, The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, 10 March 1911, page 4.
Mary Doolette died on 19 February 1890, after a serious illness, at her residence at Blackwood in the Adelaide foothills.
Doolette was selected as a delegate of the Congregational Union of South Australia to the International Council to be held in London in July 1891.'Ecclesiastical Intelligence', The Times (London), 16 February 1891, page 6. In early 1892 Doolette undertook a trip to China and Japan.Mr. G. P. Doolette, Table Talk (Melbourne), 17 January 1896, page 13.
In common with other Adelaide businessmen, Doolette became a speculator and investor in the early years of silver and lead mining at Broken Hill. From 1890 he was a director of the Yongaleatha Marble, Flag and Flux Company which operated a quarry north-east of Broken Hill. The property of 800 acres contained "a marvellous variety of useful stones and metals" including black marble, ironstone and calcite.Miscellaneous, South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide), 11 October 1890, page 7; Miscellaneous, South Australian Chronicle, 5 September 1890, page 4. At a half-yearly meeting of the Yongaleatha company in August 1892, chaired by Doolette, it was explained that in view of the difficulty of raising "the necessary capital... for carrying out the objects of the company" due to the prevailing severe financial depression, the directors had opened up "negotiations with London, and the matter is now in the hands of an influential gentleman there with the view of securing the amount required".Mining News, Barrier Miner (Broken Hill), 2 September 1892, page 2. Doolette was also a director of the Moorkaie Mining and Flux Company incorporated in May 1891, operating in an area north-east of Broken Hill.Advertising, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 29 May 1891, page 8; Moorkaie Mining and Flux Company, South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide), 3 December 1892, page 22.
The Golden Mile
By late 1892 reports began to be published of significant discoveries of gold in the remote country east of Southern Cross in the south-west of Western Australia. The earlier scientific and exploring expedition led by David Lindsay, financed by Sir Thomas Elder and supported by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, had noted the presence of an auriferous belt across the region.The Elder Expedition, The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide), 1 February 1892, page 3. The news in September 1892 of the discovery of alluvial gold at the future site of Coolgardie by Arthur Bayley and William Ford led to a rush to the locality.Pat Simpson (1979), Arthur Wellesley Bayley (1865–1896), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 15 August 2024.The Rush to Bayley's Gold Find, The West Australian (Perth), 24 September 1892, page 3; A Trip to Bayley's Find, Western Mail (Perth), 22 October 1892, page 5.