Alexander Amos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amos, Alexander}
Amos, Alexander (1831 - 1905)
Jim Longworth and Garry Allen, May 2025
Alexander Amos was born in Borrowstounness, commonly called Bo’ness, Scotland, during 1831. His sister Janet preceded him by three years, and his younger brother Robert followed him in 1832. Alexander migrated to Australia, travelling on the steam-ship ‘Golden Age’ which arrived in Melbourne on 14 February 1854. His brother Robert, arrived, likewise in Melbourne, on the ‘Forest Monarch’ on 28 March 1854, or ‘Henry Moore’ on 27 April 1854. A few years later Alexander moved to Sydney, commencing business as a public works contractor. Alexander presents himself, for what was possibly the first time, in October 1854 advertising himself as a carpenter, builder, and joiner, operating out of 16 Stephen Street, Melbourne. His winning tenders during the period 1854 to 1859, confirmed Amos’s reputation as a professional contractor and builder. Amos and Co contracts were spread over a wide area, involving diverse projects, of which several were managed concurrently.
During early 1863, Alexander transferred his base of operations to New Zealand to trade there as Iron Merchants, in Princess Street, Dunedin. The same year, he entered a partnership with brothers James and John Taylor and James Mackintosh, trading as the Goulburn River Steam Sawmills near Echuca, later under the name ‘Carron Timber and Iron yards’ High Street, Echuca. Contracts accepted, under the name of ‘Alex Amos and Co’, during the 1860s included: erecting timber railway station platforms and Post Office buildings; supplying timber railway sleepers, sawn hardwood building timber and weatherboards, and strong pier and bridge planks.
While Alexander was running the inland sawmill, he worked in closely with his brother Robert who was running the Carron iron-mills, Dudley Street, Melbourne. During September 1867 the partnership between Alexander Amos, John Taylor, James Taylor, and James Mackintosh, carrying on business in Echuca, Melbourne, and Aukland, NZ as timber merchants and sawmill proprietors, under the name ‘Alexander Amos and Co’, was dissolved, by mutual consent. Two years later, the co-partnership of J Macintosh and Alexander under the name ‘James Macintosh’, was likewise dissolved by mutual consent. All lands near Echuca were auctioned off during May 1883.
Alexander went on to acquire shares in the ‘No 1 South Nil Desperandum Gold Mining Co’; operate the ‘New England Tin Mines’, Bookookoora Creek and Two Mile Creek New England; Botallic Tin Mine Sugarloaf Creek, Stanthorpe; Victoria Reef gold mine, Adelong; Great Victoria, Williams, and North Williams mines, Gundagai; and various other mining ventures. Prospecting around the Williams mine included using a diamond drill, but the extremely hard nature of the rocks encountered made the work so tedious and costly in proportion to the discoveries made, that it was abandoned.
During May 1873, A and R Amos moved from 400 George Street to the Sydney Exchange. Five years later they moved to the Belmore Chambers, 247 George Street. Pastoral properties in which the brothers had interests included: Tulloona (variously spelt), Inverell; a cattle property at Moree; McArthur River and Simmons Bight country, SA; a stud farm, Glen Alpine, Werris Creek; Upper Wyalong No 3 run, Wagga Wagga; West Wyalong; Mount Mitchell East, Glenn Innes; a stud farm, Liverpool Plains; large property on the mouth of the MacArthur River, NT; Dog Trap station, Gloucester; The Rocky, Grafton; Gibraltar Estate grazing property, Bowral; Mount Mitchell East, Glenn Innes; Rocky River; Kidgar station; and elsewhere.
Their property at the mouth of the McArthur River was so remote, the brothers acquired their own boats to take general cargo there. Because of the shallow water the vessels had to be of a light draught. While the Gibraltar Estate, Bowral, was owned by Amos, the state government resumed about 12 acres for opening out a quarry to extract the microsyenite rock for ballasting railway tracks. To provide sawn timber for the company’s internal use, it built steam powered sawmills at Booral and Jordans Crossing.
A & R Amos are perhaps best known for constructing many sections of the expanding railway network across New South Wales (NSW). Their railway construction contracts, under various company names, included:
1868: Muswellbrook-Highland Home (renamed Wingen)
1868: Highland Home (Wingen)-Murrurundi
1874 May: Bowning-Murrumburrah
1874 May: Murrumburrah-Cootamundra
1874 September: Cootamundra-Bethungra
1878: Bethungra-Junee
1979: Junee-Wagga Wagga
1879: April, Tamworth-Uralla
1881: Dubbo-Nevertire-Nyngan
1883: Strathfield-Hawkesbury River
1883: Gosford-Hamilton
1891: Ryde-Hornsby (duplication)
1893: Narrabri-Moree
1895: Illawarra harbour works (by Robert Amos).
Payment for constructing the Narrabri-Moree line was quite unusual in that Amos was content to be paid in NSW Treasury Bonds, bearing interest at 4 per cent.
Other large construction contracts, under various company names, included: 1873-1875 building timber jetties and wharves at Bullock Island, Newcastle; and in 1877 constructing a stone dyke and retaining walls on either side of the entrance to Lake Macquarie.
The brothers weren’t averse to litigation. They appeared frequently as proponent or defendant. During May 1876 they took the Commissioners for Railways to court to compel the Commissioners to produce certain official documents which the plaintiff required to carry on its suit against the Government, claiming £70,000 for work done in constructing railways. The judge refused the application. During 1890, they brought an action in the Supreme Court to recover £300,000 from the Railway Commissioners in connection with the following railway contracts: extending the line between Tamworth and Uralla; Homebush and the Hawkesbury River; and Gosford and Waratah.
Unfortunately, 1892 saw the brothers again in court, but this time against each other. For many years the brothers had been in partnership as contractors without a written deed, having matters of business between them involving hundreds of thousands of pounds. Certain differences arose between them, and they agreed to refer to arbitration. The arbitrators determined that Alexander paying Robert £51,750 was a fair and an equitable adjustment of all the matters between them and therefore directed such payment.
Robert died in December 1905 at his late residence, ‘Braeside’, Victoria Street North, Darlinghurst. The last contract he undertook included constructing a private standard gauge railway branch line from Dapto to the smelting works, seven or eight years previously. He had been ailing for some time but became seriously ill about three weeks before passing. His wife had died some three years previously, and he left 11 children. The funeral took place at Bundanoon. Ten years later, in August 1915, Alexander passed away at his residence ‘Soma’ on Kirribilli Point. He was the beloved husband of Jessie W Amos, and brother of the late Robert Amos. Alex was interred at Bundanoon, on what is locally known as Amos’ Hill, the highest hill in the village proper. A headstone resides in the small burial plot on the ‘Cairn Hill’ property.
Further Reading
Longworth J, Bundanoon Sawmills and Inclines, Light Railways, December 2022.
Longworth J, Building the Great Southern Railway from Goulburn to the River Murray, Australian Railway History, June 2023.
Wanderer, Swansea Tramway Department of Public Works, The Australasian Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, August; October 1950. [[Category:Transport - River, Rail and Road]
