Person:Richard Coverdale (2)

Mark Howard, in the Geelong Bigraphical Register, writes:

"The second of five children, Richard was educated at King's School, Easingwold, from which time one of the school's exercise book survives to show he had mastered a fine hand in copperplate at an early age.

"Richard migrated to Melbourne in 1840 and a year or so later moved to Geelong, where he found work with a prominent local merchant, G. T. Lloyd, who was involved in a wide range of activities. Coverdale's duties ranged from keeping the accounts to overseeing the construction of a two-storey building in Malop Street that served as Lloyd's business headquarters. The early goldrush years created a shortage of workers in Geelong and at one time the only labourers Coverdale could find were the local aborigines who agreed to work but only "till the sun like one big damper" (i.e. near sunset).

"In July, 1844, Coverdale married Susannah Johnstone, the daughter of an Edinburgh merchant....

"By 1857 Richard and Susannah had saved enough to buy a small farm on the outskirts of Geelong at Cowies Creek. The farm was later added to with the purchase of another 10 acres and the construction of a substantial two-storey farmhouse of brick and bluestone.

"Richard was interested in the civic life of the community in which he lived. He took part in the movement for the separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales and was chosen to write the final draft of the petition sent from the Geelong district. He was noted for his hand writing and was often asked to pen illuminated addresses to commemorate special events in the district. When the Shire of Corio was formed in 1864, he was one of those elected to represent ratepayers of the Moorpanyal Riding. He was active in the Council and its Finance Committee. In June, 1873, he became a member of the Moorpanyal School Board of Advice.

"The Cowies Creek farm was too small to support all of his children as they grew up, so in 1878 the two sons, George and Thomas, travelled to Gippsland to examine Crown land recently made available there for selection. After a month exploring the dense uncleared forest country, the brothers pegged two adjoining blocks near present-day Korumburra.... Richard is known to have made a number of visits to his sons' farms in the early years of settlement to offer both practical advice and financial assistance. Richard's daughter, Elizabeth, and her family later moved to the same area.

"In the 1880s Richard decided to lease the main farmhouse and land at Cowies Creek to James Smith, who had married his other daughter, Mary. He and Susannah then retired to a four-roomed timber cottage behind the main farmhouse. There he died on May 21, 1897, leaving an estate valued at almost 4000 pounds. Susannah died two years later. Richard Coverdale's contribution to the history of the district is recalled by a street named after him in Corio."

The following newspaper obituary appeared in the Geelong Advertiser on 31 May 1897.

"AN OLD COLONIST - On the 21st inst., at his residence, Cowie's Creek, there passed away in the person of Mr Richard Coverdale, one of the oldest of Victorian pioneers. Arriving in the colony from England in 1840, when Melbourne, where he first landed, was little more than a bush township, he made his way to Geelong about twelve months later, where for many years he held the position of manager in Mr G. T. Lloyd's wool store, one of the first wool stores in Geelong, and which stood where Messrs Humble and Nicholson's foundry now stands. Later, he was manager of a wholesale warehouse for Mr Lloyd, and often told anecdotes of the difficulties he had in getting his cargoes warehoused during the rush to the diggings when blackfellows were more plentiful in the streets of Geelong than white men. ... He took part in the movement for the separation of this colony from New South Wales, and to him was entrusted the work of writing the final copy of the petition that went from the Geelong district. After leaving Geelong he engaged in agricultural pursuits in the district; and in the early sixties he was elected one of the first members of the Corio Shire Council, in which he held a seat for many years. Retiring from active life over twenty years ago, he spent the remainder of his days in the Geelong district, passing away at the ripe age of 87 years. For fifty-seven years the late Mr Coverdale was a colonist of Victoria and his reminiscences of the early days were very interesting. He saw the colony develop from the almost unknown settlement of Port Phillip, through the wild rush of the diggings and the present depression to the present position it occupies as an important centre of civilisation. And so they pass away, the sturdy old pioneers to whom we owe so much; but the country they have made will remain as an enduring monument to their courage and energy when all others shall have passed away."