Adam Francis Telfer

Role: Scottish migrant who followed his brothers to Australia — the Tantanoola pioneer

Born: 14 September 1842 — Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland
Died: 12 January 1925 — Knightsbridge, South Australia
Occupation: Shepherd, stockholder, storekeeper, grazier
Spouse: Margaret Dougal Telfer (1849–1936) (m. 25 March 1868)

Family

Family Stories

The Ship That Sank

Adam was born at Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland on 14th September 1842, the youngest son of James and Elizabeth Telfer. His father died in 1863 from injuries in an agricultural accident — a hard blow for the family. Adam made the difficult decision to leave his mother and sisters behind and follow his brothers to South Australia. He sailed on the steamer "London" on her second voyage, a 140-day journey from Gravesend to Melbourne. The ship's master was J.B. Martin. On the shipping list, some rushed clerk wrote Adam's nationality as "Irish" — a Scot through and through. The "London" sank on her next voyage. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.267)

Overland to Uncle Francis

Adam landed in Melbourne and travelled overland to South Australia, making contact with his Uncle Francis at "Macoota", Kersbrook, and the brothers and sister who'd come before him. He worked as a shepherd and spent some time with his eldest brother James at Koppio Station near Port Lincoln. Rough country, lonely work — the kind that made a man of you. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.267)

Marrying His Cousin

In 1868, Adam returned to Kersbrook and married his cousin, Margaret Dougal Telfer — the daughter of his Uncle Francis. She was just 18, he was 25. The wedding was at her father's home, "Macoota". He was listed as a "Stockholder, of Koppio, Port Lincoln." After the wedding they went back to Koppio for several years. It was a marriage that would last 57 years and produce twelve children. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.267-268)

The Tantanoola Store

In the early 1870s, Adam and Margaret moved to the South East of South Australia. Adam's first community appointment was as Vice President of the Millicent Show in 1878. In 1880, he opened a store in Tantanoola — then known as Lucieton. The country was booming: the soil "will grow anything," the town was laid out with "excellent judgement," and the white stone buildings showed through the foliage "to great advantage." The Telfers were among those pioneers building it all. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.269-272)

The Farewell at Tantanoola Station

After 28 years in Tantanoola, Adam and Margaret left in 1908. The district presented them with a silver tea service — still held by their great-grandson Bruce Watson of Millicent as of 1986. When the train arrived, friends gathered on the platform and sang "God be with you till we meet again." It was too much for daughter Eva, who grabbed her son Rex and boarded the train before anyone saw her cry. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.272-275)

Edgerston House

The family settled at "Waverley Park" in Lower Mitcham, then moved to "Edgerston House" on Rochester Street, Knightsbridge in 1916. The nine-roomed house had large grounds with a creek meandering through the garden, a wooden bridge covered in wisteria, an extensive orchard, and stables. The family joined the Knightsbridge Baptist Church, the girls taught Sunday School, and Hazel sang in the choir. During the First World War, Adam wrote to his son Frank about the Irish Blight ruining the potatoes and the British Government wanting all the wool. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.274-275)

The Stroke

In 1919, Adam suffered a stroke. He recovered some function but his left arm and hand were useless, and his sight was failing. He wrote letters anyway, joking about it: "I have written such a long list of letters today so think I will finish up with one to you. I have written to Ted, Frank, Ray, Tom Holloway and Elsie at Broken Hill, and now if I write one to you that will be na sae bad for a blind man." His wife Margaret would finish the letters for him: "Father has left this so I will close it for him." (From the Borders to the Bush, p.275-276)

The Smith Brothers' Return

In 1920, Adam wrote to Effie about the return of Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith to Adelaide after their epic flight from England. "There was about 20,000 people to meet them. Mother and I saw them come over Mount Lofty but we did not leave the verandah to see them." He also complained of lumbago and a dry season: "Our garden does not look well. The trees are nearly dead for the want of rain but I think they will get over it if only we get plenty of rain." The old Scot, still tending his garden even as his health failed. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.276)

Adam's Death

Margaret nursed Adam for six years after his stroke. He died on 12th January 1925 at age 82. The Advertiser ran a death notice, and The Chronicle published an obituary noting his arrival on the "London" and his forty years of grazing in the South East. He left a widow, four sons, seven daughters, and 28 grandchildren. Margaret lived another eleven years. Both are buried at Mitcham Cemetery, with the words "God is our Refuge and Strength" — from Margaret's favourite Psalm 46 — on the headstone. (From the Borders to the Bush, p.276-277)

Civic & Community Life

🖊️ Anecdote — as told in From the Borders to the Bush (pp.270-272), the Part-2 chapter-13 treatment:

• Father of the Show: the first Tantanoola Show (9 Dec 1885) was held in the woolshed at "Edgerston". Adam was first President of the Pastoral, Agricultural and Horticultural Society 1885–88, again 1890–93, and secretary in later years; he took prizes for pansies and new potatoes.
• Church foundation: Adam chaired the Presbyterian Church church-building committee (brother John gave the land); foundation stone laid by John Livingstone MHR on 15 April 1902, church opened 10 Nov 1902.
• Mason: admitted to Mount Gambier Freemasons Lodge No. 1207 on 24 April 1883.
• Adelaide years: contrary to retiring, SA Directories list him as sheep farmer and (from 1912) JP, Produce Merchant & General Agent at the Santo Building; his Truro sheep station (run by son Herb) was lost in the 1914 drought.
• The 1916 letter: a handwritten 5 Dec 1916 letter to son Frank at Glencoe West offered Cheese Factory shares and touched on shearing, the war, and the British Government.

Naming Edgerston

When Adam built up his holding near Tantanoola, he honoured the land he had left behind by naming the property "Edgerston" — after the Scottish parish in the Borders near Jedburgh where he had grown up. It was a small piece of home carried across the sea, and it was there the family made their home until they moved away in 1908. (From the Borders to the Bush, pp.267-275)

A Marriage Witnessed by Cousins

Margaret's wedding party read like a roll-call of the two families joining as one. Her cousins George and Mary Robertson stood as witnesses, and beside them was Adam's own brother John — the two Telfer lines sealing the match. (From the Borders to the Bush, pp.267-268)

Waverley Park

When the family left Tantanoola and took up "Waverley Park" at Lower Mitcham in 1908, Adam gave the new home a name borrowed from the books he loved. It came from Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels — the very stories that had drawn their colour from the Liddesdale countryside Adam himself had walked before he emigrated. So the old parish followed him even into that Adelaide suburb, wrapped up in the name of an English novelist. (From the Borders to the Bush, pp.272-275)

Life Story

Adam Francis Telfer was born at Jedburgh, Scotland in 1842. After his father's death in an agricultural accident, he emigrated to Australia on the steamer "London" — which sank on her next voyage. He worked as a shepherd at Koppio Station before marrying his cousin Margaret Dougal Telfer in 1868. They raised twelve children, first at Koppio, then at Tantanoola where Adam opened a store. The family moved to Adelaide in 1908 and settled at Knightsbridge. Adam suffered a stroke in 1919 and died in 1925.

Source: From the Borders to the Bush — pages 267-277 (chapter 7) and pp.270-276 (chapter 13, civic/community section)
Source (corroboration): Find a Grave — Adam Francis Telfer (1842–1925), Memorial 201529655 — d. 12 Jan 1925, buried Mitcham General Cemetery — accessed 19 Aug 2026