Elphinstone Davenport Cleland, what a wonderful name, was born on the 5 Dec 1854 in Beaumont, Burnside City, South Australia to John Fullerton CLELAND and Elizabeth nee GLEN. On 16 Jan 1879, he married Susannah Blood DAVIS in Auburn South Australia. They were married at the home of the bride by the Rev W Davis, the bride’s father. Shortly after marrying he took over management of Yanyarrie station, between Orroroo and Hawker, which he left in 1880, and with brother (George) Fullerton Cleland leased land at Cleland’s Gully near Tooperang where they ran sheep. They gave up the lease to an Uncle (later Sir) Samuel Davenport in 1885. before he became involved in mining he was a journalist for The Argus and the The Sydney Morning Herald.
The couple were to have three children, Elizabeth Cleland born in 1879, Walter Elphinstone Cleland born 1881 and Samuel Davenport Cleland born 1885 (died of wounds received in WW1 in France in Fremantle WA in 1919), all born in South Australia. On Christmas day of 1898, Elizabeth died aged 52 years, she was six years older than her husband. It was then in 1899 that the family came to Western Australia, and the following year in 1900, Elphinstone married for the second time to Ann ‘Annie’ Emily MacKINNON, who was aged 30 years and from the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Left to right: Elizabeth Cleland (daughter by first marriage), Anne Emily Cleland, (baby, Donald Mackinnon
Cleland, born 24 January 1901), Elphinstone Davenport Cleland (Manager, Bailey’s Mine, Coolgardie), approximately 1901.
Annie and Elphinstone were to also have three children, Donald McKinnon CLELAND born in June 1901 at Bayley’s Mine, Coolgardie (Later to become Brigadier Sir Donald MacKinnon Cleland, CBE), William McLeod CLELAND born Coolgardie 1903 and Lennox Lachlan CLELAND born Perth WA 1907. While in Coolgardie, Elphinstone was the manager of the Bayley’s Mine and they lived in a substantial house on the mining lease.
Left to right: Samuel Cleland (son by first marriage), Elphinstone Davenport Cleland (Manager, Bailey’s Mine, Coolgardie),
Anne Emily Cleland, Donald Mackinnon Cleland (on knee) , (there was only nine years between
Elizabeth and her step mother Ann), Elizabeth Cleland, approximately 1901.
The following photographs, all from the SLWA, show the interior of the Cleland home in Coolgardie. It is not often we get to see the inside of a home of the time, and as you will see the house is quite elaborate and decorated in a typically Victorian style.
Elphinstone and Annie Cleland at home in Coolgardie c 1900
The Cleland dining room in their home in Coolgardie c 1900
The Cleland Family at home in Coolgardie c 1900
The Cleland ladies reading at home in Coolgardie c 1900
Elphinstone Cleland taking tea at home in Coolgardie c 1900
By 1910 the family had moved to Brownhill near Kalgoorlie where Elphinstone was to become the Manager of the Great Boulder and the Perseverance Mines. He was also a dealer in gold. Of the six children, William (born 1903, was the only one to stay in the Goldfields where in 1933 he married Margaret MANFORD and became the owner of Glenorn Station near Leonora.
Sun 21 October 1928, page 3
Elphinstone Davenport Cleland
A former well known Golden Mile mine manager, whose death took place on Monday week last at the age of 73. The late Mr. Cleland was born in South Australian and came West in the early days of the fields. In 1900 he was manager of the famous Bayley’s mine at Coolgardie, was later an Inspector in the Mines Department,land about 1911 he succeeded Mr. R. A. Varden as manager of the Boulder Perseverance mine, a position lie held until his retirement in 1925 He lived at Guildford until 1925 and then moved to Ventnor avenue, West Perth. As a member of the Chamber of Mines he rendered valuable help, and was also the author of a work on Western Australian mining practice which is still regarded as a standard text book. He also wrote the following book:
The White Kangaroo – A Tale of Colonial Life founded on fact by E. Davenport Cleland
He is buried in the Anglican section of the Karrakatta Cemetery in the same grave as his son William McLeod Cleland. Ann Emily Cleland moved to London in 1939 where she died in 1944.
Moya Sharp
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I lived on Glenorn in 1965, the son of the station mechanic Pete Havord. We were educated through the School of the Air, and I remember Dad talking about the Clelands owning it.