John Archibald
ARCHIBALD, John Wilson MAusIME MNEIMME JP (1862 - 1938)
John was born at Gledswood, in NSW, on April 22, 1862, the son of sawyer and schoolteacher Isaac Adam Archibald and his wife Eliza Ann Archibald nee McKenzie.
John’s father, operating a timber mill, became insolvent and then worked as a school teacher moving from Braidwood to Newcastle, where in 1868, he became headmaster of the Hanbury Public School. The family moved around NSW with his teaching employment and by 1880 were located at Glen Innes.
After taking a course in land surveying, John’s initial employment was as a surveyor on rail construction in NSW. By 1883 he was working at the Bucca Creek Gold Mines in NSW. In 1888, he jointly discovered the Rivertree silver deposits and in 1889 was the Manager of the Wongobah Silver Mining Company at Rivertree.
In late 1892, John came to Western Australia. By 1896 he was the Consultant Engineer to the Hit or Miss Proprietary Company. By 1898 he was General Manager of Hicks Gold Mine and also Consulting Engineer to the Lady Evelyn Gold Mining Company. Other roles were General Manager of the Mount Malcolm Proprietary Company and in 1899 he was Consulting Engineer to Guests Gold Mine Limited.
John firstly married Florence Hilda Thorne, who died at Coolgardie in 1897. On October 24, 1900, he married secondly Mary Ann (Marion) McMillan (nee Tasker) at Trinity Church, Perth. They had two sons, Ian Wilson Archibald (born 1902 Subiaco) and Hixon Archibald (born 1892 from Mary Ann’s first marriage).
By 1900, John was advertising as a Mining Engineer and Consulting Engineer with offices at Mount Malcom and Coolgardie. In 1901 and 1906, John was an unsuccessful candidate in the Federal Elections for the House of Representatives in the seat of Coolgardie.
In 1907, John reported on the Mulga Queen Gold Mine at Laverton.
In 1909, he was commissioned to undertake a comprehensive assessment of minerals in Fiji on behalf of an Australian Syndicate. In 1910 he returned to Fiji to undertake further mining activity accompanied by his wife and two sons.
In 1910, he commenced applying for tin mining leases at Tingha NSW and by 1914 was living at Tingha. In 1918 he was appointed the General Manager of Star Gully Tin NL at Tingha. In 1921, he resigned as General Manager of a group of tin mines in Tingha NSW. After retirement he continued tin mining on his own account at Tingha.
He and his wife moved to live at Dulwich Hill NSW in 1922. He continued to be involved in mining. In 1928 he was the Director of Brine Springs Oil Syndicate, NSW and in 1931 was the co-founder and a shareholder of Uralla Gold NL NSW.
John became a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining Engineers in 1892 and a Member of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers in 1894. In 1899 he was gazetted as a Justice of the Peace.
He died at Marrickville District Hospital, NSW, on March 31, 1938, aged 75 and was survived by his second wife and their two sons.
Based on a biography in Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining and augmented by Chris Fitzhardinge November 27, 2024.
References:
Warwick Argus, 26.11.1883, p3
Coolgardie Miner, 8.7.1898, p3
Western Argus, 13.7.1909, p29
Inverell Times, 1.4.1921, p2
Sydney Morning Herald, 1.4.1938, p12
Denis A Cumming and Richard G Hartley, Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining, Graphic Source Pty Ltd, 2014
