MAJOR celebrations to commemorate 150 years of the Robertson family on Chowilla will be held on September 21.
Plans include sheep shearing in the Old Chowilla Woolshed, paddle steamers, re-enactments and a formal dinner for invited guests.
This is its story:
A property known as Bookmark was established on February 8, 1864, by Richard Holland and his three stepsons: John, William and Robert Robertson.
The boundaries ran from just over the NSW border, including Boundary Run, to just north of Lake Boney.
A portion of Bookmark was also a stock route, following the floodplain and about 700,000 sheep a year traversed it, making their way to the Adelaide markets.
In 1887, 12,145 hectares of Bookmark was acquired by the Chaffey brothers to establish the colony's first irrigation settlement, Renmark.
In the early years, the Robertson brothers and their stepfather bred and raced horses throughout NSW, SA and Vic.
Racing as Robertson Brothers, they were very successful. Notable wins included the Adelaide Hunt Club Cup, the Corinthian Cup and winners - three times - of the Wentworth Cup which, back in the day, was the second most prestigious race in the country after the Melbourne Cup.
The brothers also won the first cup at the Renmark Racecourse: the Gymkhana Cup.
Holland and the three Robertson brothers bred the Assyrian which, after they sold it, went on to win the Melbourne Cup.
The brothers dissolved the partnership in 1896 and William moved to Turretfield, the home of the family's horsebreeding enterprise.
Bookmark was divided into two properties, based on equal carrying capacity, which then became Calperum and Chowilla.
John took the Calperum portion of Bookmark, while Robert remained at Chowilla.
Robert, a fine craftsman, had completed the internal woodwork at the Chowilla Homestead in anticipation of getting married.
However, John beat him to the altar and consequently moved in.
Following the division of the property, John's wife Nell refused to pay an extra (xA3) £500 for Chowilla for the extra improvements on the property, so they agreed to an exchange.
On the allotted day, the two families loaded their possessions onto paddle steamers and swapped the Bookmark and Chowilla properties and homesteads.
Legend has it, the two parties passed each other down river, neither tipping their hats in acknowledgement of the other.
In 1919, Robertson Chowilla Pty Ltd was created with shares issued to the expanding family, as an alternative to further dividing the property.
* Full report in Stock Journal, August 28, 2014 issue.
