Charles McLean Nicholson

NICHOLSON, CHARLES , Miner, Ettrick, Mr. Nicholson was born in 1828, in the Isle of Skye, where he was brought up as a medical student. He went to India in 1848, attached to the Bengal Infantry, but left for Australia after a year's service, and arrived in New South Wales in 1850. For several years he was attached to the Civil Service, was for three years in charge of the native police, and was second in command of the expedition sent out in search of Dr. Leichardt. After a few years in Victoria, during which he was engaged in mining, Mr. Nicholson came to Otago in 1862, and has been settled in the Mount Benger district for most of the time, with the exception of a few years spent in Dunedin. He established Nicholson's Hotel at Ettrick, and conducted it for twenty-four years; in Dunedin he conducted the Baldwin (now Central) Hotel for fourteen months, and afterwards the Universal Hotel for two years. Since retiring from hotel life, he has been engaged in mining, and was one of the promoters of the Fraser River Hydraulic Company in 1899. Nicholson's River, in the northern territory of Australia, one of the tributaries of the Gilbert River, was discovered and named by Mr. Nicholson. In 1852, Mr. Nicholson was placed in charge of a gold escort, which conveyed 65,000 ounces of gold from the Ovens and other districts, overland to Sydney. He was married, in 1864, to a daughter of the late Mr. D. K. Koch, Burgomaster of Hanover, Germany, and niece of the celebrated Dr. Koch; and has four sons and four daughters.