William Jamieson

William Jamieson (18 August 1852 – 8 May 1926) was an Australian surveyor, and a member of the syndicate that founded the Broken Hill Proprietary mine at Broken Hill. He was, in 1884, the company's first mine manager and, in 1885, its first general manager. History Jamieson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1853, as the second son of Rev. George Jamieson of the Church of Scotland, and his wife, Jane Jamieson née Wallace. He was educated in Aberdeen and as an apprentice arrived in Adelaide in 1869, then headed for the Victorian goldfields, where he had little luck, and so headed for Sydney. Armed with a letter of introduction to (later Sir) John Hay, a friend of his father's, and wealthy squatter for whom the town of Hay is named, he was sent by Hay to Grungle station, located 400 miles up the Murrumbidgee from Hay, New South Wales. He worked, for a time, as a jackaroo at the sheep station, until George Mair, manager of the station, induced him to give up jackarooing, and study surveying. In 1881, he entered the New South Wales Lands Department as a surveyor and, in March 1883, while in Bourke, he received his license as a surveyor under the Real Property Act. That same year, he was put in charge of the Bourke-Silverton district, which included the Barrier Ranges. In 1884, he was sent to complete the long-awaited survey of mining claims at Silverton. Shortly after his arrival, a long drought– which had dispirited many prospective miners –broke, and threatened many with flooding.