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the James Cowan estate. The original Crown Point leases had been taken up by Willoby and partners in 1881,
cancelled and transferred to James Cowan in 1890 and to Sarah Cowan in 1898. The station was not stocked
until after 1885. The Crown Point Homestead was built on the banks of the Finke at Crown Point. It was the only
station homestead in the area and well established in 1894 when the Horn Scientific Expedition passed through.
Baldwin Spencer, one of the anthropologists in the group, noted: ‘We were made welcome by Mrs Ross...
At the time everything was very green, the verandah overgrown with creepers, was cool and restful; we had fresh
vegetables from a garden watered by a well close by the river, and the change from the dust and flies of the camp
to the comfort and refinement of the little station home was more than welcome’.
On their 1899 journey north, Doris Blackwell in Alice on the Line recorded her recollections of the Bradshaw
family’s visit to old Crown Point. They stayed several days with ‘Mr and Mrs Alex Ross, their son Alex junior and
daughter Ruby’. Doris remembered that the Ross’ home was built of stone. The Ross family appear to have left
soon after.
In 1901, Spencer and Gillen made the detour to Sarah Cowan’s New Crown head station, a new timber building
many kilometres down stream. A man named Taylor was the manager. This building would have been under
construction while Ross was still manager of Old Crown. When Spencer and Gillen passed Old Crown Point, the
buildings were already falling into ruin. The stone building was later renovated by Ephraim Sommerfield as a
residence and bush store.
After the closure of Old Crown, Ross stated that he managed Dalhousie for John Lewis, but for how long is
not known. For some time early in the century, Ross sank wells along stock routes assisted by his son, Alexander,
who had returned from school in Adelaide.
The Ross family were living in Alice Springs in 1914 when Padre Bruce Plowman noted in his diary that
he ‘visited Mr and Mrs Alex Ross on Thursday June 18th’. They were there in 1926, when Sister Jean Finlayson,
the first Australian Inland Mission Nursing Sister in Alice Springs, received word her mother was seriously ill in
Sydney. She rode a horse from Alice Springs to Oodnadatta in company with her friends, Alex and Fanny Ross,
who were travelling by buggy that carried her luggage and their camping gear.
During the years 1923 and 1924, he managed Stirling station, south of Barrow Creek, for the estate of the
late F R W Scott. He returned to Alice Springs and it seems that early in 1925 he was appointed Inspector of
Water Supplies for the extensive Alice Springs district. He held this position until a serious accident ended his
working life.
In 1926 or 1927, a visiting pastoralist engaged Ross as guide for an inspection of vacant lease country northeast
of Alice Springs. Each white man rode a camel while the Aboriginal assistant rode a powerful bull camel loaded
with packs, water and rations. During the day, Ross noticed that the Aborigine had developed serious skin abrasions.
The pastoralist had the only double saddle so Ross asked him to let the Aborigine ride behind him. The man refused
so Ross exchanged places with his Aboriginal companion. On the second day with Ross leading, his bull camel
became entangled in a mulga branch, bucked violently and threw him into the air. He fell and injured his back but
re-mounted and completed the day’s trek. Next morning he was in agony. They were two days from Alice Springs,
so Ross sent the other two back, with the Aborigine on the bull camel with the rations. Ross had heard horse bells
from a nearby ‘dogger’s camp and managed to ride there. The ‘dogger’ took a message to Alf Turner who was then
living about 12 miles away at his camp on his new lease.
Turner came immediately and gave Ross what first aid he could, prepared food and tea for him and then rode
through the night to Bond Springs Station. The next day he was back with a vehicle and transported Ross to the
Australian Inland Mission hospital into the care of Sisters Pope and Small. Ross’ severe injuries prevented him
from resuming his work and he and his wife returned to Adelaide. Fanny Ross died in Adelaide Hospital on
3 February 1930. Alex followed her on 4 February 1938 at the age of 80.
Ross’s early life demonstrated the affinity and trust between father and son and encapsulated events unique
for a teenager in Australian pioneering history. His maturity, and leadership in his early life set the pattern of
his integrity in bush ‘mateship’ and compassion to the end of his days. His last act in exchanging camels with
his Aboriginal mate was a rare mark of his character. He was one of the great pioneers having a rare affinity with
his human environment and with the solitary places of the inland.
D Blackwell & D Lockwood, Alice on the Line, 1965; G Bucknall, ‘John Ross’, Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography, vol 1, Pioneers
of the Old Track, 1990, Mantle of Safety, Second Edition 1993; Centralian Advocate, 3 July 1959; E Giles, Australia Twice Traversed, 1889;
Northern Territory Archives Service F670; F27; Photos of Old Crown Point buildings; B Plowman, Diary, National Library, Canberra, MS
5574; A Powell, Far Country, 1982; The Register, Adelaide, 7 February 1925; State Records, South Australia, Alexander Ross, ‘Recollections’;
South Australian Births, Deaths and Marriage records.
GRAEME BUCKNALL, Vol 3.
ROSS, JOHN (1817–1903), explorer and pastoralist, was born at Bridgend, Dingwell, on the north shore of
Cromarty Forth on 17 May 1817, the eldest son of Alexander, miller and farmer, and his wife Sarah. The young
John Ross migrated to Australia during 1836–1837, on the brigantine Earl Durham. His first landfall was Sydney
and, in 1838, he is thought to have travelled to South Australia with Charles Bonney, in an exploratory cattle
drive from the Goulburn River. Ross claimed that, during this expedition, he was the first white man to sight
Lake Bonney.
After his arrival in South Australia, Ross managed several sheep and cattle stations. He also explored various
areas in the north of the state including the Macumba district to the northwest of Lake Eyre. These experiences
led one of his employers, Thomas Elder, to recommend Ross to the Superintendent of Telegraphs, Charles Todd,