George Vause Birks

Dr. George Vause Birks (c. 1815 – 31 January 1858) was a medical doctor who with his family emigrated to South Australia in 1853, and died there less than four years later.

Their family was significant in the commercial life of the young city of Adelaide.

Many of the Birks family were involved in William Lane's New Australia colony in Paraguay and others in the irrigation settlement at Murtho initiated by the Government on the River Murray, losing substantial sums in the failures of these Utopian ventures.

Dr. George Vause Birks, his wife Hannah Napier Birks (6 May 1807 – 13 August 1883) and their family lived in Knutsford, near Manchester, England, and emigrated to South Australia on the Leonidas, arriving at Glenelg, South Australia in December 1853.

This list is not exhaustive but is intended to show the relationship of all members of the family likely to be encountered in Wikipedia and local histories.

Colour oil painting of George Vause Birks seated, wearing black jacket, white shirt and black cravat
George Vause Birks c. 1850s
Colour oil painting of Hannah Napier Birks seated, wearing black dress with a white headdress and white ribbons, diamond brooch at base of bow tied around her neck
Hannah Napier Birks c. 1850s
Holden & Birks in Rundle Street
Birks' Chemists, Rundle Street, Adelaide, south west corner Gawler Place c. 1920
Charles Birks drapery store NE corner Rundle Street and Stephens Place c. 1900