Niel Black

{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Niel Black | image = Black_246x550.gif | caption = [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/5730958 Niel Black] | birth_date = 26 August 1804 | death_date = 15 May 1880 | spouse = Grace Greenshields Leadbetter | children = {{ubl | Archibald John | Steuart Gladstone | Niel Walter }} }}

'''Niel Black''' (26 August 1804 – 15 May 1880)<ref name="adb"> {{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first= Russel |last=Ward |title=Black, Niel (1804–1880) |id2=black-niel-3003 |access-date=3 May 2013 }} </ref><ref name=":3" /> was a Scottish born Australian colonial pastoralist and one of Australia’s early politicians, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council.<ref name="parl">{{cite re-member |num2=254 |name=Niel Black |access-date=27 August 2022}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />

== Biography == Black (the surname is Mac 'Ille Dhuibh in Gaelic) was born at Kilbridemore, Cowal, Argyleshire, Scotland, the son of Archibald Black (died 1808), a farmer, and his wife Janet, ''née'' Nic Chananaich (Buchanan).<ref name="adb" /> His native language was Gaelic but he was also fluent in English. [[File:Unpublished letter.jpg|thumb|State Library Victoria, [http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/287225 Unpublished letter].[http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/287225]]] Black sailed to Australia on board the Ariadne and docked in Port Adelaide in 1839. He had the idea of investing in Australian pastoral properties with his partners Alexander Struthers Finlay, of Castle Toward, Argyleshire, Thomas Steuart Gladstone, of [https://www.historichouses.org/houses/house-listing/capenoch.html Capenock], Dumfriesshire and Mr William Steuart of Glenormiston, Peeblesshire, Scotland. Black's partners invested £6,000 between them, with Black providing ‘little capital but much ability and practical experience’.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Laidlaw |first=Zoë |title=Capital, Agents and Absentees: Port Phillip Pastoralism and the Profits of Slavery |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2025.2570723 |journal=Australian Historical Studies |volume=0 |issue=0 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1080/1031461X.2025.2570723 |issn=1031-461X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="adb" /> He realised the land was too expensive in Adelaide and visited Melbourne and Sydney. He decided to settle in Port Phillip because he felt it was more of a “Scotch settlement”.<ref name="adb" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Glenormiston College|url=http://www.glenormiston.com.au/History.php|access-date=2020-07-31|website=www.glenormiston.com.au}}</ref>

He purchased a 17,612 hectare run near Lake Terang in the Western District which he named '[http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/321199 Glenormiston]' in 1840.<ref name="adb" /> He also bought a run nearby called 'The Sisters' in 1844.<ref name=":1" /> The partnership, which was highly remunerative after 1846, continued until 1868 when the property was divided. Black bought Gladstone's portion, now known as Mount Noorat, and resided on it until his death on 15 May 1880.

In the 1850s Black visited Scotland again, he lived there for five years where he met Grace Greenshields Leadbetter. They were married in 1857.<ref name="adb" /> Black and his wife had three sons, Archibald John, Steuart Gladstone and Niel Walter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Wilkie|first=Ben|date=2012-06-08|title=Niel Black – The Pioneer Pastoralist|url=https://thescottishaustralian.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/niel-black-the-pioneer-pastoralist/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=Benjamin Wilkie|language=en}}</ref>

Black’s personal papers are held by the State Library of Victoria. His diaries and many letters provide insights into many aspects of life in the Western regions of Victoria in the nineteenth century. They include some revealing commentary on what he thought some of his fellow settlers believed was a legitimate approach to maintaining possession of their land holdings in the face of native attacks on livestock and sometimes shepherds. However he was not convinced that the settlers' claim to self defence was necessarily valid, and he considered some of them "scarcely less savage" than their native assailants in this regard. His journal entry for 9 December 1839, reads:<blockquote>The best way [to procure a run, in their opinion] is to go outside and take up a new run, provided the conscience of the party is sufficiently seared to enable him without remorse to slaughter natives right and left. It is universally and distinctly understood that the chances are very small indeed of a person taking up a new run being able to maintain possession of his place and property without having recourse to such means — sometimes by wholesale — but I do not think that this is by any means common, and it its only outside that they are ever called upon to act in so brutal a manner, it, however, seems to be little thought of here as it is only done in defense of self or property … I believe, however, that great numbers of the poor creatures have wantonly fallen victims to settlers scarcely less savage though more enlightened than themselves, and that two thirds of them does not care a single straw about taking the life of a native, provided they are not taken up by the Protectors.<ref name=":4" /></blockquote>He represented the Western Province from February 1859 to May 1880<ref name="parl" /> in the Legislative Council, and was also a magistrate for the southern bailiwick. As a politician he was a staunch Conservative, and opposed the introduction of free education.<ref name="DAB1892">{{Cite Australasia|wstitle= Black, Hon. Neil |volume= | page= 42 |short=}}</ref>

Black died in Noorat, Victoria on 15 May 1880 and left £179,208, a huge amount of money at the time.<ref name=":5" />

==References==

=== Journal articles ===

* Clark, Ian D. "[http://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-43/t1-g-t7.html Squatters' Journals - No 43 Autumn 1989]". ''latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au''. Retrieved 4 July 2020.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Clark|first=Ian D.|title=Squatters' Journals - No 43 Autumn 1989|url=http://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-43/t1-g-t7.html|access-date=2020-07-04|website=latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}</ref> * Black, Maggie. [http://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-88/t1-g-t9.html "The Battle for the Lands: glimpses from a squatter's correspondence - No 88 December 2011"]. ''latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au''. Retrieved 17 August 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Black|first=Maggie|title=The Battle for the Lands: glimpses from a squatter's correspondence - No 88 December 2011|url=http://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-88/t1-g-t9.html|access-date=2020-08-17|website=latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au|language=en-AU}}</ref>

=== Books ===

* MacKellar, Maggie (2008). "''Strangers in a Foreign Land – The Journal of Neil Black and other voices from Western District''." Carlton, Vic.: The Miegunyah Press. {{ISBN|9780522855128}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=MacKellar|first=Maggie|title=Strangers in a foreign land : the journal of Niel Black and other voices from the Western District|publisher=The Miegunyah Press|year=2008|isbn=9780522855128|location=Carlton, Vic.}}</ref> * Black, Maggie (2016). Up came a squatter : Niel Black of Glenormiston, 1839–1880. Sydney, NSW: NewSouth Publishing. {{ISBN|9781742235066}}.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Black|first=Maggie|title=Up came a squatter : Niel Black of Glenormiston, 1839–1880|publisher=NewSouth Publishing|year=2016|isbn=9781742235066|location=Sydney, NSW}}</ref>

=== Websites ===

* Ward, Russel. "Black, Niel (1804–1880)". ''[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/black-niel-3003 Australian Dictionary of Biography]''. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 3 May 2013 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.<ref name="adb" /> * "[http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/black-niel-3003 Obituary - Niel Black - Obituaries Australia]". ''oa.anu.edu.au''. Retrieved 4 July 2020.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Obituary - Niel Black - Obituaries Australia|url=http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/black-niel-3003|access-date=2020-07-04|website=oa.anu.edu.au}}</ref> * "[https://web.archive.org/web/20121007075352/http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/re-member/bioregfull.cfm?mid=226 Black, Niel]". ''re-member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851''. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.<ref name="parl" /> * Wilkie, Ben (8 June 2012). "[https://thescottishaustralian.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/niel-black-the-pioneer-pastoralist/ Niel Black – The Pioneer Pastoralist]". ''Benjamin Wilkie''. Retrieved 4 July 2020.<ref name=":0" /> * Mennell, Philip, "Black, Hon. Neil", ''The Dictionary of Australasian Biography'', retrieved 31 July 2020<ref name="DAB1892"/> * "[https://poi-australia.com.au/niel-black/ Niel Black - (b. 26 Aug 1804 - d. 15 May 1880) » POI Australia]". POI Australia. 25 August 1804. Retrieved 31 July 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1804-08-25|title=Niel Black - (b. 26 Aug 1804 - d. 15 May 1880) » POI Australia|url=https://poi-australia.com.au/niel-black/|access-date=2020-07-31|website=POI Australia|language=en-AU}}</ref> * "[https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1150 VHD]". ''vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au''. Retrieved 31 July 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=VHD|url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1150|access-date=2020-07-31|website=vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au}}</ref> * "Glenormiston College". ''www.glenormiston.com.au''. Retrieved 31 July 2020.<ref name=":2" /> * '[https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/1466423 Black, Niel (1804-1880)]' 2010. ''Trove'', viewed 12 August 2020<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Trove|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/1466423|access-date=2020-08-12|website=trove.nla.gov.au}}</ref>

=== External links ===

* [http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1634858 Records and Personal Papers of Niel Black, 1838-1938], [manuscript]. ''State Library of Victoria''

=== Footnotes === <references /> {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-vic-lc}} {{s-bef| before = Daniel Tierney }} {{s-ttl | title = Member for Western Province | years= February 1859 – May 1880 |with = Stephen Henty 1859–70 William Skene 1870–76 Charles Sladen 1864–68, 1876–80 Charles Vaughan 1859–64 Robert Simson 1868–78 William Ross 1878–80 James Palmer 1859–70 Thomas McKellar 1870–75 Samuel Wilson 1875–80 Henry Miller 1859–66 James Strachan 1866–74 Thomas Bromell 1874–80 }} {{s-aft | after= Robert Simson }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Niel}} Category:1804 births Category:1880 deaths Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Category:Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia Category:People from Argyll and Bute Category:19th-century Australian politicians Category:Australian pastoralists Category:19th-century Australian businesspeople