Lavington Alexander Lindsay GORDON

1877 - 1958  (80 years)

• Name	Lavington Alexander Lindsay GORDON
  Nickname	Lav
  Born	18 Aug 1877	Torrie Banks, Strathalbyn, SA, Australia
  Gender	Male
  Notes for biography	Advertiser Adelaide, 17th March 1932, p10 Out Among the People, by Rufus: Could Race Phar Lap - LAL Gordon, Tiparra. via Paskeville writes:?-"Dear Rufus, your talk over the air about your holiday was most interesting to me, as many of the haunts you visited are very familiar to me and many of the people you mentioned are personal friends and schoolmates of mine. When my father was managing Point Sturt for the then owner, Joan Howard Angas, ducks were very plentiful, and we boys shot hundreds of them. You mentioned something about ostriches. I know a little about those same birds. Mr. Angas sent 20 of them to Point Sturt. They proved a rank failure from a money-making point of view, although feathers were fashionable and commanded a high price. They do not work well together with cattle: they tear themselves about too much in the barbed wire. You compared their speed to a fast trotter. Why, Phar Lap at his top would not get near them and they can maintain top speed for half a day. They are the maddest things on earth to yard. They will not go through the gateways without first walking past about twenty times. If there are chicks among them then the job is simplified, as the chicks, being low, lead the way through the gate. I remember we boys chasing one bird that broke away for half a day. It eventually took to the water and walked out until only about a foot of its neck and head were above water. It then resembled a periscope of a submarine "They are very savage at nesting time especially the male bird. I remember my old grandfather. Henry Saltmarsh, who was staying with us on two occasions coming in contact with the ostriches. The first time he had his head cut badly and his coat and pants ripped almost off him. The second encounter put him to bed for weeks with three broken ribs. Out of season the birds are very tame and can be made pets of. They are real gourmands. We boys had to crack stones and cut up bones for them to swallow. They will pick up iron and other metals if they get the chance."
  Notes for biography	BIOGRAPHY: From page 41 of 'The Gordons' by Nathalie & Colin Semmler (This book can be seen in Stories on the left of the home page.) Lav was born on 18.8.1877 on the Gordon farm at Torrie Banks,S.A. Some time after Lav's birth the family moved into the town of Strathalbyn where Alexander worked as a butcher. After Lav started school, the family moved to Narracoorte in the South East of South Australia, where Alexander engaged in farming activities. Lav attended the Church of England Grammar School. The family left the district in 1886. They loaded all their belongings on to a wagon and set off across the Ninety Mile Desert for Point Sturt (on the shores of Lake Alexandrina near Milang), with daughter Nathalie just a few weeks old. Alexander was engaged as a manager of Point Sturt Station. Lav attended school at Point Sturt. The family then moved to the large property, "Watulunga", Finniss, where Alexander was the manager. Lav worked here as well as on several other farming properties around Milang. He also worked in the Milang Cheese Factory. Lav and the family continued to attend the Point Sturt Church of Christ. Lav eventually managed a farming property called "Tol-de-rol", then worked with his brother, Ron, on a farm at Nurragie, near Milang. It was whilst here that Lav married Bessie Burns at the Grote Street Church of Christ in Adelaide. They lived for a time in Milang, and after the birth of their first child, Jean, they moved to the farm at Nurragie. After the birth of their second child, Robert, Lav moved to the Loxton district where he worked clearing mallee scrub. Bessie and the children travelled there (on board a Murray River paddle steamer which carried many drunken men!). The workers were living in tents and had to cart water a distance of five kilometres. It was quite a hopeless situation for the family so they moved to Bordertown (S.A.) where Lav was employed by Thomas Verco (he owned many farming properties in South Australia) for thirty five shillings per week. Whilst at Bordertown, Bessie returned to her parents' home at Unley for the birth of their son, Graham. They stayed at Bordertown until about 1915, when one of Bessie's aunts died and left her a house at Aldgate Valley in the Adelaide Hills. Lav found employment in a pyrites mine in Aldgate Valley. However, shortly after the birth of their next child (John) the mine closed and Lav once again had to find work. Their fifth child, Dorothy, was born at Kadina Hospital in 1925 while the family lived in Tiparra. The family moved to Yorke Peninsula where Lav had found work on a farm owned by Gottlieb Schilling. They stayed there for two years until one of the Schillings married and moved in the house, so the Gordons moved to a farm in the area owned by Bert Pearson. This farm was soon sold to a Mr Gardiner who took Lav on as a share farmer. It was at this time that Lav had an unfortunate accident while helping a neighbour cut chaff. His left hand was caught in the rollers and severed. He continued to work (including sheep shearing) with his disability for many more years. In 1934, one of the Gardiner sons took over the farm. Lav and his family moved to Clare, where he worked at various places as well as taking in boarders. Lav did sheep droving. He sold Rawley's products which were medications but this didn't do well. Money was always tight and Bessie was known to pray for money to feed her family. Lav had a hook on his hand and could do everything except put on a tie. The next move was to a suburb of Wayville in Adelaide, where they continued to take boarders. They eventually purchased a home at 24 Neston Ave Plympton, where they had several years of retirement. Lav had a stroke while helping a man lift wheat bags. He lived for another 12 months, bedridden. He died while living in Plympton. Bessie spent her last 20 years or so in a nursing home in Mitcham.
  Occupation	Farmer in Finnis.
  Died	9 Jan 1958  [1]
  	Some sources (which ones?) have his death as 1959 or 1969 - rather than 1958.
  Buried	12 Jan 1958	Centennial Park Cemetery   [2]
  	Bessie and Lavington were both buried at Centennial Park. The lease runs out in 2016. (Source = Rosemary Saltmarsh - email dianna@activ8.net.au on 29th Dec 2014)
  Person ID	I105	Alexander & Jessie
  Last Modified	26 Nov 2025

  
  

  Father	Alexander (jnr) GORDON,   b. 4 Apr 1852, Larbert, Stirling, Scotland, UK ,   d. 21 Apr 1925, Wxx Laurences Private Hospital, Wakefield St, Hindmarsh West, Adelaide  (Age 73 years)
  Mother	Annie SALTMARSH,   b. 28 Oct 1853, Bugle Ranges via Hahndorf, SA, Australia ,   d. 4 Nov 1932  (Age 79 years)
  Married	31 Mar 1875	Christian Chapel, Groote St, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  	They might have been married in 1876 rather than 1875.
  Children	As well as their own 11 children, they also raised Alexander Duff Gordon whose mother died in an accident soon after he was born and his father, Coningsby, went to America. Baby Alexander was Alexander's and Annie's first grandchild - he was born in 1902, just 8 years after their youngest child
  Residence	Annie and Alexander farmed around the Strathalbyn district. They lived at 'Watulunga'.
  Wedding	Wedding : Alexander and Annie were married on 31st March 1875 at the Christian Chapel in Grote St, Adelaide. The witnesses on the marriage certificate were Mary McGREGOR of Alma, Henry SALTMARSH of Lake Plains, and Robert D LAWRIE of Alma.
  Family ID	F36	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Bessie Pearce Graham BURNS,   b. 6 Oct 1884, Hyde Street, Adelaide ,   d. 15 May 1985, Mitcham  (Age 100 years)
  Married	1 Feb 1908	Christian Chapel, Unley, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  Children	+ 1. Mary Jean Graham GORDON,   b. 24 Nov 1908, Milang SA ,   d. 23 Jun 1998  (Age 89 years) + 2. Robert Burns Graham GORDON,   b. 9 Apr 1910, Nurragi ,   d. 12 Jan 1996  (Age 85 years) + 3. Lavington Graham GORDON,   b. 17 May 1913, Unley ,   d. 10 May 1998  (Age 84 years) + 4. Arthur John GORDON,   b. 13 Sep 1919, Algate ,   d. 4 Nov 2009 or 2008  (Age 88 years) + 5. Dorothy Champion GORDON,   b. 17 Feb 1925, Kadina ,   d. 24 Nov 2017, Forrestdale WA  (Age 92 years)
  Last Modified	20 Jul 2019
  Family ID	F143	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos » Slide Show		Lavington Alexander Lindsay Gordon
  		W - Lavington Alexander Lindsay Gordon in later years Source Vanessa Edwards (Mills) in WikiTree
  		Lavington Alexander Lindsay Gordon Source Vanessa Edwards (Mills) in WikiTree
  		Gordons & McLachlans about 1896 * Annie & Donald Gordon (with children James, Ethel, Katherine & Linley) * Annie's parents (James & Catherine McLachlan) * Donald's nephew (Lav)
  		Lavington
  		Athol, Roy, Ron and possibly Lav - by the lagoon at Watulunga
  		Lavington
  		Lavington & Bessie
  		Lav & Bessie at Mills Street in Clare in 1934
  		Lav, Graham, Dorothy, Ella Miethke, John & Bessie about 1931 Ella Miethke was Graham's tutor when he was in hospital with hip problems.
  		Old Nell pulling cart with Lavington & Ella Miethke about 1926 Ella Miethke was the tutor for Lavington's son, Graham.
  		Lav, Graham, Bessie, Dorothy & Robert in Clare about 1938
  		Back are Robert, Jean, Graham, John - Front are Bessie, Dorothy & Lav - in Clare 1937
  		Lavington, Bessie & Jean
  		Lavington Gordon, Grace Burns, Bessie Gordon (nee Burns), Letitia Pentelow (nee Burns), Robert Burns & Sarah Burns Photo in 1940s at 8 Clark St Waysville.
  		Unknown lady & man, Grace (Gay), unknown lady, Lav Gordon & Bessie, nee Burns

  
  

  Our places » Slide Show		Farming at Watulunga - the Gordon boys at work
  		Homes of Lav & Bessie - before 1834
  		Homes of Lav & Bessie - after 1834 * CLARE - Mills Street in 1834 & 1835: This was a new home rented by the Gordons. When they first moved in, water had to be carted from the Presbyterian church up the hill, until the rains filled the tank. The tent in the back yard (Dorothy & Bessie peepoing out) would have been used when visiters came (pictured at top right). * CLARE - Charles Street from 1835 to 1938: (Top left) Lav & Bessie are photoed in front of this house. * WAYVILLE 8 Clark Street from 1938 to 1953: (Photoed on the right) This home was rented for 17/6 per week The family took in boarders and foster children. Rosemany Wall (foster) and Dorothy played an April fool joke on Mr Johnson. Bessie was cross and made the girls apologise. * PLYMPTOM - 24 Neston Avenue from 1953 to 1964: (Bottom left) This was Lav's last home. He had a stoke while helping a neigbour lift cement bags. He was bedridden and died in the house after 12 months - on 9th Jan 1959. Bessie stayed there until 1964 when she moved to Sunset Lodge in Mitcham where she died on 15th May 1985, aged 100 years.
  		Shifting the Gordon home from Pearsons to Gardners
  		The Gordon's home at Aldgate John was born here.
  		Sunnyvale church in Feb 1955
  		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.

  
  

• Sources

  [S67] 'The Gordons' by Nathalie Semmler & Colin Semmler, 1997, page 13. [S63] Burials of Bessie (nee Burns) and Lavington Gordon, Rosemary Saltmarsh - email dianna@activ8.net.au .