Chambers brothers (pastoralists)

[1] The plan had been that by leaving on an earlier ship James would arrive in plenty of time to organise accommodation for the rest of the family, but unfavourable winds forced the Coromandel to delay its departure until 9 September.

The rest of the family, which included sister Priscilla Chambers, had a trouble-free voyage in the James Renwick, arriving off Largs Bay on 10 February 1837.

Margaret Goyder Kerr, in her book Colonial Dynasty – the Chambers family of South Australia, makes the point that the two men were physically quite different, both in build and temperament, and John wore a green satin patch over his blind right eye, so would never be confused by contemporaries.

[7] He opened a livery stable in North Adelaide,[6] He bought bullocks and wagons from Cape Town and coaches from England, he tendered successfully for the mail contract to Burra around 1845 (endorsed by postmaster-general John Watts)[8] and built a substantial business carrying passengers to the mining areas north of Adelaide, including Gawler's expeditions into the country.

With his new-found knowledge of what was needed in South Australia, he was able to return in 1856 on the ship Albuera[9] with a useful selection of horses, cattle and sheep.

[6] James and his business partner William Finke found copper on one of their northern properties and on 23 July 1857 were issued with lease no 5 on some eighty acres that became known as the Oratunga Mine.

The floating of the Great Northern Mining Company on the London Stock Exchange in 1860 was marked by irregularities, shady deals, deception and outright fraud.

The first application for mining leases was refused by the Commissioner of Crown Lands Charles Bonney, but his replacement John Bentham Neales, M.P.

took it on himself not only to grant them without going through the normal procedures, such as checking claims of the proponents, gaining approval from Major Freeling of the Survey Department (who objected to both applications), the Lands Office, and obtaining the signatures of the Chief Secretary and the Governor, but personally rushed the signed form to mining captains John Hart and Dashwood, and T. Hancock (manager of the North Rhine Mining Company and secretary of Great Northern), as their ship to London was waiting on the tide at Glenelg.

The prospectus they prepared gave an unrealistic picture of the ore bodies, falsely claimed the Government was planning a railway to the mine (the survey was to Mount Remarkable), that the Burra proprietors had offered a large sum for the mine, and that it had the Governor (Sir Richard MacDonnell)'s endorsement, and falsely named John Morphett as a director.

This last expedition set out with great ceremony on 25 October 1861 from James's residence on Montefiore Hill, North Adelaide,[14] where he died of complications from a carbuncle[15] without learning of its successful outcome.

Her sister married John Chambers; her brother James Watson Redin (15 April 1813 – 22 August 1871) also emigrated, lived at Aldinga, South Australia John Barker and Catherine, Hugh Chambers and Agnes, formed the company Barker and Chambers, with major property investments "Comongin Holdings" in Queensland,[21][22] later became McLean & Barker & Co.[23] They ran the "horse bazaar" on Sturt Street, Adelaide, also on Grenfell Street and Gay's Arcade, which in November 1884 was destroyed by fire and rebuilt as part of Adelaide Arcade.

[6] In 1846 he took up land around Lake Bonney to run sheep, then formally converted it to leasehold in 1851, setting up a head station at Cobdogla, managed by James Trussell, successfully breeding horses and cattle.

)[32] With brother James, he set up a headquarters at Mount Samuel, which Herschel Babbage used as a base for exploring the Flinders Ranges for prospective sites.

miles (4400 km²) for £48,000, He sold much of his landholdings in 1863, avoiding losses in great drought He had mining leases around Blinman, South Australia.

[28] He settled on a farm somewhere in the Upper Sturt[36] / Cherry Gardens / Coromandel Valley area and played no major part in public affairs.