William Randell

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Randell in 1880.

William Richard Randell (May 2, 1824 – March 4, 1911), was an Australian politician and pioneer. Born in Devon, England, Randell emigrated to the newly-founded colony of South Australia in 1837 with the family; his father, William Beavis Randell, working for the South Australia Company. Randell pioneered paddleboat travel on the River Murray and represented the Electoral District of Gumeracha in the South Australian House of Assembly between 1893-1899.

Randell was educated in Exeter in England and voyaged to Adelaide, arriving at Holdfast Bay on October 20 1837. His father was to be the chief miller for the South Australia Company, but the mill machinery was stranded on Kangaroo Island and did not arrive in time for the elder Randell to take up the position. He instead managed the company's stock for some time, eventually venturing into the Adelaide Hills, founding the town of Gumeracha.

Randell would assist his father and brothers with their vast property, which stretched from present-day Gumeracha to the River Murray. He took an interest in the Murray and dreamed of steam-boats being able to transport produce between the neighbouring colony of Victoria and South Australia. At the time South Australia was struggling to retain its population due to the emigration of its young to the Victorian goldfields.

In 1852, with no prior experience in the construction of steamboats, Randell commissioned local carpenters in Gumeracha to build him one. Once built, it was deconstructed, dragged across the plains to the Murray, and reconstructed. Named the PS Mary Ann, the steamer featured a unique boiler made by a German engineer--it was square and would greatly increase in size when used. The Mary Ann was later increased in size and renamed Gemini, and Randell would voyage in it to Walgett on the Darling River.

He founded the town of Mannum, building a house and a dry-dock there. Wentworth, New South Wales was Randell's base for two decades until the 1870s, as he supervised the expansion of his fleet and the burgeoning of trade on the Murray-Darling. He would serve as a Justice of the Peace from 1861 in New South Wales, and from 1873 in South Australia. In 1899 he surrendered his business to his son and retreated back to the family estate, Kenton Park, in Gumeracha. He would then represent Gumeracha the House of Assembly; while the oldest member of the house he would regularly make the trip between his constituency and Parliament House in Adelaide.

Randell moved to North Adelaide in 1910 and died on March 4, 1911.