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R.A. Fiveash
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At the Yudanamutana Company's headquarters in London it was decided to appoint Robert Archibald Fiveash as South Australian Superintendent from February 1867, to take charge of its works at Yudanamutana and Blinman. Fiveash certainly seemed the right choice for the position and it was hoped that it would be possible now to make a success of both mines. Fiveash had extensive prospecting and mining experience. He also had proven managerial and organisational skills. He had been in South Australia almost from its inception, having arrived on the sailingship The Planter, a schooner of 120 tons, at Holdfast Bay on 17 May 1839, after a six month voyage from London. When he arrived, as an assisted migrant, there were fewer than 14,000 people in the infant colony. He soon worked his way up the ladder and one of his first ventures was a butcher shop in Hindley Street. This forced him to stay in the same place all day, something he certainly did not enjoy. By 1853 he was working as a contractor for the Adelaide City Council. Now he was in a much better position to move around and he was soon roaming as far north as the Flinders Ranges, where he was prospecting and taking up leases either for himself or on behalf of others. His many absences from Adelaide and the drapery shop, which he now ran together with W.Fiveash, resulted in the dissolution of this partnership. The official documents were signed on 9 January 1858 and witnessed by Henry Martin. Now it was possible for R.A. Fiveash to travel even further. In 1862 he accompanied Henry Martin for the official opening of the Yudanamutana and from then on spent most of his time in the Northern Flinders Ranges. However he was home on 27 December 1865 when his eldest son John married Eliza Jane Gill of Coromandel Valley. The ceremony took place at Trinity Church and was performed by the Very Rev. the Dean of Adelaide. After being appointed as Superintendent, Fiveash paid particular attention to lowering the cost of transport. One way of achieving this would be by improving the roads north of Port Augusta, something he had been trying to do since 1863. Within three months he secured himself a seat on the local board of main roads for the district of Port Augusta. A year later he added the position of Attorney for the Yudanamutana Company to his already busy workschedule. In 1869 Fiveash became a Justice of the Peace at Blinman and the owner of the Ooraldana mine, about eight kilometres west of Wooltana Station. That same year he also became a member of the board of directors of the newly formed Mount Lyndhurst and Burr Mining and Smelting Association Ltd., and an agent for the Warreuta Copper Mining Company of South Australia Ltd. At the same time Mr Fiveash kept making applications for mineral sections in the north of South Australia. During his five years as Superintendent and Attorney Fiveash often steered the mine through troubled waters. Even though he encountered many almost insurmountable problems he never lost faith. One of the first things he did was to make sure that the nine hundred tons of ore, which had been raised at Yudanamutana before the drought, were carted to Blinman for smelting. R A Fiveash died on 28 Januaru 1872, and was replaced as Superintendent by Francis Joseph Botting.
Mining interests remained in the family, even after his death. His son Robert Henry married Annie Bertha Catchlove on 29 October 1873. Annie was the daughter of Henry Catchlove *** If you like to find out more,
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