John Holt / Robinson

John Holt always put family first, his wife & 13 children, mother Elizabeth & brothers James & William.

Young John Robinson had a rough start to life & the 13 months he & William were separated from their mother the ultimate test of courage, trust and love for the boys.

John Holt as he was known all his adult life was one of the 'lucky' kids compared to other youngsters in the orphanage. He was born in Georgetown to Mary Dwyer & Samuel Robinson. John was almost 3 when he and William travelled to Hobart & placed into the Orphanage. The application notes Samuel was aboard the whaling barque 'Sussex' and last whereabouts in the records, at St Mary's Hospital on 25/7/1859-15/8/1859 with account settled by 'Mrs Seal' owner of the Sussex.

Elizabeth (Mary) married John Holt 15 months after collecting her sons from Hobart, John Holt (senior) was kind and cared for the boys and so became their father.

Somewhere across this time frame, James (my Great Grandfather) became William and John's elder brother. James was born in Hobart 1851, before Samuel & Mary's arrival.

Around the mid 1860's John Holt leased Little Dog Island, this was the start of his three sons long association & love for LD. The 100+ birding seasons enriched the Holt coffers for over a century.  This picture shows John's boat, Pearl, and his brother James boat, Coogee, moored in Johnny Holts bay on Little Dog.

John married Mary Ann Ackerman & settled in Launceston, his brothers settled on Flinders Island. John and his family would travel every birding season to LD to join his brothers and the island became a bustling community of Holts/Robinson as they had 36 children between them. John was a skilled mariner and his cutter the 'Pearl' was the mode of transport across the straits.

The Heart of Oak Lodge and Waterside Worker Union were the community groups he supported. 

In 1898 John navigated the Nellie to Flinders & on return the public read  'Captain Holt was very obliging to one and all during the trip, was extremely careful in the navigation of the little vessel'  

The 1902 Wakatipu Ball this link shows the Albert Hall decorated by John and the Wakatipu crew. Daughter Elizabeth is pictured in this link (Scotch set) 2nd on (L) with Jas Parkinson behind & sister May on the floor. Elizabeth married James in 1904.

John died in 1915. The Lodge and Union invited all members to his funeral, a testament to his civic duties.

Little Dog Island - this link is pretty cool. The verandah shot located on the William's land (NE) looking toward Big Dog then Lady Barron sweeping around to John's property next door (NW). James property over to the south - good clear tracks between the three sheds were cleared before the start of each season when they would be stocking up with wood in preparation for the next few months of really hard work.

The notation above in remarks of John Robinson being charged with Larceny was not our John Robinson, he was about 7 & lived with his parents in Launceston.

John Holt / Robinson an honorable man of his times.