Biography

Alexander was christened 9 Nov 1811 at Errol, Perthshire, Scotland. Father James Gibb, mother Janet Walker.^[1]

Elizabeth Coupar married Alexander Gibb 25 May 1841 at Errol, Perthshire.^[2]

Betsey and Alexander travailed from Greenoch, Scotland on the barque India leaving 4 June 1841. Unfortunately the India caught fire and sank at sea 200 miles north east of Rio de Janiero. 17 Souls perished in the disaster with the remainder being rescued by the crew of the ROLAND - a French whaling vessel. The survivors were conveyed to Rio de Janeiro where the British Government hired another ship the Grindlay to transport them to Port Phillip where they arrived on October 22^[3][4] Also on board her sister Ann and husband James Robertson.

History of Broadmeadows, by Andrew Lemon, pub 1982, page 20 -
"Alexander & Elizabeth Gibb arrived in Melbourne in October 1841 as bounty passengers, or assisted immigrants. They were Scottish, ambitious hardworking. He was by trade a carpenter, but he took the opportunity to try a county life by renting 640 acres at Campbellfield, south of today's campp Road, for an annual rental of 5 pounds. He was regarded as a model farmer, and he did well. Under the regulations, he was entitled to offer the minimum price, (raised to 1 pound an acre) and secyure the land by selection. He did this in 1848 in conjunction with a Keilor settler, James Robertson., Gibb called his property Meadownbank, and in 1850 built a two-storey bluestone residence (the hearthstone is inscribed ;August 5th 1850'). It survives today as one of the oldes builgins of the distict, very well preserved and standinf in a last vestige of its graounds, secluded in a curious pocket of suburbia at Glenlitta Avenue, and known as the Manor House. It is a distinctive building, and yet a very similar structure was built at the southern end of the section for Robertson, and named Gowrie Park. One suspects that Gibb, the carpenter had a hand in the construciton of both."

Meadowbank homestead.

The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Wed 26 Sep 1860 Page 7 VISIT TO MR. GIBB'S FARM.

He passed away in 1882.^[5]

Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) Sat 1 Apr 1882 Page 13 Family Notices.
GIBB. — On the 23rd March, at his residence, Meadow bank, Campbellfield, Alexander Gibb, aged seventy one years. A colonist of forty-one years.

Buried Will Will Rook Cemetery, Broadmeadows.^[6]

Research

Alexander Gibb and James Robertson selected 640 acres at Campbellfield and set up business in Sydney Road as coachbuilders and blacksmiths, living in a tent. The 640 acres, bounded by Morley St, Camp Rd., Fairleigh St. and Hilton St., were leased in October 1841 and purchased in 1848 by ALEXANDER Gibb and James Robertson. The northern half became Meadowbank and the southern half Gowrie Park.

Sources

1. ↑ "Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQ7T-JH2 : 11 February 2020), Alexander Gibb, 1809.
2. ↑ "Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY3W-WXF : 11 February 2020), Elizabeth Coupar in entry for Alexander Gibb, 1841.
3. ↑ Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser (Vic. : 1839 - 1845) Mon 18 Oct 1841 Page 2 LOSS OF THE INDIA
   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226510006.
4. ↑ Public Records Office Victoria
   https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/E289FC3D-F1B1-11E9-AE98-4F5884FEEC7B?image=164
5. ↑ Victoria BDM Death 598/1882
   Father James Gibb. Mother Janet Walker.
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #141722660