MEIKLE, Robert (1817-1868) — London & Melbourne
Lithographer. For the Surveyor General’s Office, he lithographed Geological map from Melbourne to Western Port 1854; Township of Broadford Sunday Creek 1854; M. Nicholson, Township, suburban & country allotments at Framlingham at McWilliam’s Inn, Hopkins River 1855; Robert Mason, The town of Donnybrook parish of Kalkallo county of Bourke 1855; Robert M. Harvey, Country lots in the parish of Buninyong, county of Grant 1855; Electoral district of Ballarat 1855; Town and suburban lands at Gisborne in the county of Bourke 1856; The village of Frankston at Kananook Creek, Port Phillip Bay 1856; Country lands in the parishes of Goldie and Moranding eight to ten miles from Kilmore County of Dalhousie 1856; Township of Sale, Gippsland 1857; George Hastings, Village of Woodside, Bruthen Creek, Gipps Land 1857; W. A. Taylor, Country allotments in the parish of Moolort, in the county of Talbot 1857; Map to accompany report on the connection of Adelaide and Melbourne by electric telegraph 1857; for the Department of Lands and Survey, lithographed John Darbyshire, Township of Rutherglen, parish of Carlyle 1862, with Arthur James Stopps; Special lands, parish of Avoca 1863; Suburban lots, parish of Glenmona 1863, etc. He also compiled ‘The fencer’s manual’ 1859.
Born Robert Douglas Meikle at Paisley, Renfrewshire, 21 Jul 1817, the son of John Meikle, a merchant, and his wife Mary McTaggart. Already working as a lithographer, he married Emily Williams (1819?-1864) in London at St. Giles Cripplegate 1 May 1841. By 1851, he was resident in Islington, with his wife and a son, recorded as a lithographic draughtsman and employing two assistants. He arrived in Melbourne with his wife and son about 1853, successfully applying for a position in the Crown Lands Department 22 Apr 1854. He advertised quasi-anonymously in 1854 a private gymnasium teaching “feats with the sword, gymnastics, fencing and single stick play according to the system of Mr Arnold, Bond-street, London”. In 1857 he was described as lithographic draughtsman in the Public Lands Department, “a man of twenty-eight years’ experience in his branch” who had been unfairly dismissed for having punched John Trevor Jones. After two spells of temporary employment, he later rejoined the department on a permanent basis as a photo-lithographer on 1 Jan 1863, He was described as being one of the most skilful map draughtsmen in Australia, very talented at lettering. He was granted sick leave early in 1868, but died 30 Apr 1868 and was buried 1 May 1868 of “chronic asthma and disease of the heart” aged fifty-one. His wife had pre-deceased him in 1864 and they are buried together in St. Kilda Cemetery.
3 Lawrence Lane, Cheapside, London — 1841-1842
145 Aldersgate Street, London — 1844-1850
20 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London — 1850
25 Thornhill Square, Islington — 1851
94 Bourke Street East, Melbourne — 1854-1856
Raglan Street, Melbourne — 1860
80 George Street East, Melbourne — 1861-1862
Simpson Street, Melbourne — 1864-1867
BBTI. Census 1851. Darragh. Lemon. NLA. Tooley. Trove. Twyman.