John Gillatly was from Perthshire, Scotland. He told people he was from Perthshire and that went on his death certificate, and later his intestate will mentioned he was a native of Scotland. To what family he belongs to we have been unable to discover from records in Scotland. The surname has different spellings, Gellatly, Gilatly etc.His age on his 1844 marriage certificate is 24, if this is correct he was born about 1820. We have been unable to find how, when or where he came to Tasmania. There is no record of him as a prisoner.
John Gillatly is listed as the publican of the Sailors Return hotel in Port Adelaide in 1855 later known as the Lass O'Gowrie hotel; it was located in St Vincent Street, just across the road from the Presbyterian Church. He left the family home sometime in the 1860s and traveled to the eastern states with his eldest son. He had a farm at Moorwatha near Albury during the 1870s. He left his farm after the death of his son John in Albury in 1882. He worked with his son in law James Devine in Albury, both at the hotels and working a gold claim. About 1885 he left Albury to head north.
In December 1887 he was thrown off a dray at Neosfield near Singleton NSW and died soon after. Little was known of him in the area except that he had been married. All he had was his horse, a saddle and about 18 pounds owing in wages. Soon it was discovered he left a widow in South Australia and three living children. We would like someone to claim him as one of their Gillatly family from Scotland, so we wait to hear from you. | |
