[1] He was also a member of B. T. Finniss's 1864 expedition to select a capital for the Northern Territory, during which an incident occurred resulting in his being tried for murder of an Aboriginal man.
For many years he managed his father's famous vineyard, "Auldana" in the eastern foothills, and was recognised as an accomplished vigneron and wine judge.
[1] In 1864 the South Australian government charged B. T. Finniss with finding a suitable site by the Adelaide River for the capital of the Northern Territory to be called "Palmerston".
[12] Auld, employed as a chainman, was one of the party of 40 that left Port Adelaide on the barque "Henry Ellis" on 29 April 1864 for Adam Bay.
[13] He, with several other young "labourers", aroused considerably antagonism among the officer class in the expedition by receiving preferential treatment from Finniss, one of several sources of dissension in a rather dysfunctional organization.
The Bengal had arrived and several expeditioners, including Auld, opted to pay the fare home rather than stay.
At the trial no evidence was brought for the prosecution, rather there was a report that the man shot at (named Dombey or Bombey) was still alive.
In 1882 Mr. Hally Burton declared himself bankrupt and the trustees sold his share of the business to his assistant Mr. Cocks, who was then stripped of his franchise for unauthorised use of the "Auldana" brand.
[5] Around 1881, in failing health, Patrick and his daughter moved to New Zealand where he spent his last years, dying at Norman Hill, a suburb of Onehunga near Auckland in 1886, aged 75.
[38] In 1888, after his father's death, W. P. Auld sold "Auldana" to its mortgagee Josiah Symon,[7] leaving his home of 43 years.
[6] For many years he was a member of the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of South Australia and frequently served as a wine judge.
He was a keen horseman (he often rode with Adam Lindsay Gordon[44]) and a foundation member of the Adelaide Hunt Club.
He was a council member of the Adelaide branch of the Royal Geographic Society[45] and at one time president of the Australian Natives' Association.
As a younger man he was interested in amateur theatricals, and was, with W. S. Strawbridge and old-school chum W. H. Phillipps, a member of the Clayton Young Men's Society,[46] and again with Phillipps, the Norwood Young Men's Society[47] He served for a time as councillor for the Magill ward in the District of Burnside.