Almost fifteen year old Robert arrived in Australind, Western Australia with his parents and brother James in December 1840.
They intended to reach the coast at Shark Bay, but were driven back by heat, fatigue, lack of water, and the loss of a number of their horses at Poison Rock.
[2] Resigning from his position in Western Australia in April 1860, he was appointed to the Queensland Surveyor-General's Department one month later.
After almost 30 years as a civil engineer and surveyor he was appointed, in June 1891, to be Sergeant-at-Arms to the Legislative Assembly, where he served until August 1893.
His son, Major Colin Douglas Austin, was killed in action on 6 August 1915 in the Dardanelles and was buried at Gallipoli.