[5][6][7][8] He married Violet Ann "Dear Wah" Chapman (1885-1917), in Perth, Western Australia on 29 June 1911.
[9] Violet left for England not long after Robertson's death, served for almost two years with the Voluntary Aid Detachment at Coulter Hospital, in London,[10] and qualified to serve in France as an ambulance driver.
[11][12][13][14][15] He was educated at St. Andrew's College, Bendigo, where he was dux of the school,[16] and at the University of Melbourne.
[18][15] While at the university, in addition to his courses in Science and Mining Engineering, he rowed, played cricket, played football, and competed in the long jump for Ormond College;[19] and, as well, represented the university at both rowing,[20] and at football.
Having spent twelve months as a lecturer in science and mining at the Brisbane Technical College, he moved to Western Australia to work as an assistant mineralogist and surveyor with the Geological Survey of West Australia in 1911;[29] and, later, still with the Geological Survey of West Australia, he also assumed the duties of a chemist and analyst.