The Robinsons

The Robinson’s Australian chapter began when Thomas Robinson and his family arrived in the country as part of a program established by Caroline Chisolm and her husband, designed to encourage people to emigrate to the new colony.

In 1849, with the support from members of the House of Lords, Chisolm founded the Family Colonisation Loan Society.  The Society’s aim was to support emigration by lending half the cost of the fare (the emigrant would provide the other half) and, after living two years in Australia, an emigrant would be expected to repay the loan.  By 1954, the Society had assisted more than 3,000 people emigrate to Australia.  

For a family of 13, the cost would have been substantial and shows that Thomas and his wife Emily were committed to beginning a new life for their children with Thomas making payments to the Society on a weekly basis until they left London in 1852.

Many looked at the Society program as a success, bringing families of the most industrious and frugal class compared to the Government program which “when filled had only been able to obtain a class whom Earl Grey termed the refuse of workhouses, inferior to convicts.”

Sadly, Emily wouldn’t get to see Australia, dying in 1850.  Thomas would marry Elizabeth in 1851, knowing his plans to emigrate and perhaps offering his new bride an adventure in a new colony as well as finding a mother for his children.

Sailing on the Mariner, the shoemaker was 44 years of age when he arrived in Port Melbourne in 1852, ultimately making his home in the village of Malvern.

At the time the family established their home, Malvern was considered remote from Melbourne with reports of bushrangers roaming the area.  Small farms, orchards and market gardens were gradually established and at one stage there was a tobacco plantation on what is now the corner of Malvern and Tooronga Roads.  There were also a number of kilns built in the district for brickmaking and trades including blacksmiths, saddlers and wheelwrights were established with the village growing along Malvern Road.

Son Edwin was 7 when he arrived in Melbourne with his father and 10 siblings.

By 1874, Edwin was working as a wheelwright in Chapel Street and on Christmas day, 1876, he married Emma Julia Wiber.

Edwin and Emma's family would grow to include eight children including Harry Edwin, born in August 1878.

In 1885 Edwin became the licensee of the Malvern Hill Hotel which is still in operation today on the corner of Glenferrie and Malvern Roads.

Perhaps a sign of the times, or of Edwin’s and resilience and ability to reinvent himself as he provided for his family, in the 1914 census Edwin is listed as a carpenter.  In 1927, Emma died, soon followed by Edwin in 1930, the couple buried in Burwood Cemetery.

Harry, Edwin and Emma’s second child remained in Malvern during his life working as a painter and married Elsie Lucy Elliott, born in Wagga Wagga in 1910.  In 1911, the couple excitedly awaited the birth of their first son.  Sadly, he would not survive.  Named after his father, Harry Edwin was buried at the Kew Cemetery.

Three years later, the couple welcomed their baby girl, Imelda Maud Billingham.  Born to a 17 year old girl from regional Victoria, Imelda was adopted by the couple who changed her name to Imilda.  At some stage Milda would drop the I, with her marriage certificate being evidence of this change to her name.

The young family lived in a cottage, typical of the Malvern area and Harry continued to work as a painter.  The Robinson’s had a large extended family and with the siblings children being of similar age, family events were common.  

In February 1916, aged 37 years and 6 months, Harry applied to enlist in WW1, but the years of working as a painter had resulted in gastritis, something he had suffered from for at least six years.

Whilst in training at Royal Park, Harry suffered from stomach pain and vomiting with the Doctor diagnosing him as having gastric ulcers and hemorrhaging, and on May 25, he was discharged, unable to serve his country.

In 1931, when Harry and Elsie, were 52 and 48, Elsie became pregnant, welcoming Harry Edwin to the family.  Milda was 16.  Then, in the early 1930’s, the couple adopted their second son Leslie.  Born in 1929, it is believed that Leslie and his brother stayed with Harry and Elsie following the death of their mother.  At some stage, Leslie’s birth father returned, taking one of his sons and leaving Leslie with the Robinsons.

The impact on Milda must have been profound. The young girl had been an only child and had been much cared for by her adoptive parents.  She had even taken piano lessons, a luxury for many families.  Suddenly, her parents focus turned to the young boys.   During the next four years she would meet the Heard family who lived in the neighboring suburb.  With the family working as a carpenters and her own father as a house painter, perhaps this was how she came to know them with the suburbs seeing a boom in building.

In 1935, Milda married Edward William Heard at a Registry Office in Fitzroy, forever severing her ties with her adoptive family.  Was this her decision or theirs?  The Robinsons were Church of England and one of Harry’s sisters had disowned her daughter who had married a man who was Roman Catholic.  Was that the reason for Milda to leave her family?  They were of the same working class and both were from well regarded suburbs.  Milda would never talk of the reasons or what happened but the silence would not be one sided.

On June 8, 1949, aged 70, Harry Edwin Robinson died at his home in Armadale.  The death notice reading; Harry Edwin, beloved husband of Elsie, eldest son of the late Edwin and Emma Robinson, darling daddy of Leslie and Harry, loved father in law of Nina.  His daughter, Milda, not mentioned.

Harry was buried with his first-born namesake in Kew and, Elsie would in time live with their second born son, Harry until her death in 1957.

Following the death of his parents, Harry looked for the sister whom he could not have remembered but maybe had heard stories of.  Sadly, he was unable to locate her and build their relationship before he died in 1984.

Milda, Harry and Leslie would all die, possibly wondering how different their lives may have been had ties not been severed and Harry and Leslie were able to grow up knowing their amazingly resilient older sister.

Image: Milda Maude Robinson

The Robinsons

Adoptive family of Milda Heard, wife of Edward William Heard