Robert Moore
Robert Lismore Moore. State Library of New South Wales, reference MLMSS 10304.
Robert Lismore “Bob” Moore, was born 10 December 1847 in Market Street, Wollongong, New South Wales.
Bob Moore managed Angledool Station under owner Henry Newcomen from the early 1870s onward. Newcomen came from a farming background in Lincolnshire, England, and owned several large properties in Australia.
Robert married Frances Emily Mary Newcomen, daughter of Henry Newcomen in 1882.
Bob Moore was previously a gold miner at Ravenswood Queensland, He had also worked mining tin at Tingha. As an experienced prospector, he held a miner's interest in the land around him.
When, in 1873, he found 'pretty rocks' on the ground and sent them for appraisal in Sydney, the response from the callers suggested the material was worthless and would best be sold as 'road metal':
“Bob Moore is the first person of whom there is any evidence of having been interested in the Lightning Ridge mineral. Due doubtlessly to his earlier goldmining experience. In 1873 or 1874 he sent a “hatful of the pretty stones” from the Nebea Ridges to Sydney to ascertain their value, and whether it was worth-while going on with a mining venture. The reply was that it would be worth [70 shillings] per ton in Sydney as road metal.”
This negative experience kept Moore out of Joe Beckett’s mining syndicate in 1903.
Bob Moore was community-minded and supported the community during the years of the Boer War, encouraged cooperation between station masters and staff during hard times and supported community projects including the building of the Angledool Hall (now Angledool School of Arts Hall).
In later years, Moore was supportive of opal miners on the new Lightning Ridge fields, allowing them access to water sources on Angledool Station when water was scarce and the government was hesitant to build infrastructure.
In 1884, Bob had an accident involving a steam tractor-driven circular saw which almost resulted in the loss of his hand. Doc Kenrick, the unlicensed physician at Angledool performed surgery on Moore’s hand, allowing him to regain its use after months of physical therapy.
Bob Moore passed away on 14 January 1912 at Coocooboonah Station, near Gunnedah and is buried at Gunnedah Cemetery.
Signature of Robert L. Moore, sourced from a cheque receipt, 17 December 1897.
Article: Research by Leisa Carney and Russell Gawthorpe, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Frances Emily Mary Moore diaries, 1880-1922, New South Wales State Archives, MLMSS 10304; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 89, 190; B. Upton, ‘Henry Newcomen, 1824-1884’, The Millstone, vol. 7 issue 2, March-April 2009, p. 6.