George Melrose

George Melrose (22 December 1806 – 8 April 1894) was a Scottish pioneer of South Australia, whose descendants were prominent in pastoral and professional circles.

George Melrose (22 December 1806 – 8 April 1894), the last surviving son of John Melrose of Balerno, Scotland, left his homeland on the Palmyra, arriving in 1839. He gained experience as a sheep farmer; first on the Bremer River, then at Macclesfield with (later Sir) Walter W. Hughes; next at Mount Barker with Robert Lawson of Padthaway; then took up land on the South Rhine (now Marne River), the foundation of what would become "Rosebank", his Mount Pleasant property. All the neighboring country having been taken up, he embarked on a number of exploratory expeditions, mostly east of the Murray, and in 1846 started to invest in the Lake Victoria region, and moved there with his new wife in 1847. After squatting there for seven years negotiations with the New South Wales government broke down, and the lease was awarded to someone else, so he returned to Mount Pleasant, which he and his family built up over the decades. The homestead was built in 1858. He later also purchased "Wangaraleednie" (near Franklin Harbor, from two doctors named McKechnie), Borthwick Brae, and Ulooloo runs.

On 24 May 1847 he married Euphemia Thomson (20 April 1829 – 31 October 1887), a daughter of John Thomson originally of Kirkaldy, Scotland, who had also come to South Australia in 1839 and settled at "Lily Bank", Mount Pleasant. Their children were:

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