Alexander Hay

Alexander Hay (12 January 1820 – 4 February 1898) was a South Australian merchant, pastoralist and politician.

Early career

Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, as a young man he gained free passage to South Australia when working as a "wharfer", arriving in May 1839. After working for only two years for the South Australia Company, he could afford to purchase his own land to farm at Gumeracha. He soon acquired or invested in extensive pastoral land holdings throughout south-eastern Australia. He opened a grocery and hardware store on Rundle Street in the Adelaide city centre, specialising in supplying tools and equipment to the new copper mines and the booming building industry. He also became a proprietor of the newspaper the South Australian Register, a director of two insurance companies, two banks, a gas company and a wharf company. He served as vice-president of the Adelaide Zoo, president of the YMCA, an Adelaide City Councillor. He founded the Caledonian Society of South Australia, and was its Chief 1881–1883. He was married to Agnes Kelly in Adelaide in 1845, with whom he had eight children (only four survived to adulthood, a son and three daughters).

Political career In 1857, Hay was elected to the district of Gumeracha in the South Australian House of Assembly. He almost became Premier in 1868, after a collapse in support from farmers resulted in the dissolution of the existing ministry. The Governor invited Hay, as the leader of the liberal land reformers and the only candidate with a clear policy, to form a ministry, but Hay refused. He was asked again the following month, and accepted but was unsuccessful in securing sufficient support.

He is remembered for his commonsense, his support of industry, farmers, and young entrepreneurs, and his steadfast support of free primary education. He is particularly noteworthy for his role as proposer and chairman of the Select Committee on Education in 1868, which recommended a secular and compulsory system (which became law seven years later).

Hay died at Mount Breckan in January 1898. A memorial window in St. Augustine's Church, Victor Harbor, was erected in his memory.

Children Alexander had twelve children, eight between 1846 and 1858 by his first wife Agnes, née Kelly (1818–1870, married 1845), and four between 1873 and 1877 by his second wife Agnes Grant, née Gosse (1837–1909, married 1872).

Agnes Kelly Agnes Kelly (1818–1870) was a bonnet maker in Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills. She had arrived in South Australia in September 1840. In 1845 (aged 27) she married Alexander Hay. Within a short time they had eight children. As was very common in those days, four of their children died before their third birthday. Agnes Hay died on 3 August 1870, aged only fifty-three. She was buried at the West Terrace Cemetery where four of her children had already been buried. William Christie Gosse was the brother of Alexander's second wife Agnes Grant Hay née Gosse. Aggie and William had 3 children: William Hay Gosse MC (1875–1918) was killed in action in France. He married Muriel, née Davidson, who died in 1920. Their son George Gosse (1912–1964) was awarded the George Cross in 1946; Sir James Hay Gosse (1876–1952) married Joanna Lang, daughter of Tom Elder Barr Smith – they had a daughter and four sons; and Edith Agnes Gosse (1878-) James (1855–1908) Helen (1858–1861)

Agnes Grant Gosse Agnes Grant Gosse (1837–1909) married Alexander Hay in March 1872 (aged 35). He had been introduced to Agnes Gosse at a function in 1867 at which the Gosse family had also been present.

Agnes was the eldest daughter of Dr William Gosse (1812–1883) and Agnes née Grant (1811–1891). Their six children were: – married Mary, daughter of Hon. G. C. Hawker David – married Emily Fenn Henry – married Elizabeth Clark

As well as being Hay's second wife, and having the benefits of the Gosse family heritage, Agnes Grant Hay was an author. Her works include: After-glow memories by Anglo-Australian, London : Methuen & Co., 1905 NLA catalogue entry Malcolm Canmore's Pearl by Agnes Grant Hay, 1907 Archibald Menzies, mystic by Agnes Hay Grant, London : John Milne, 1908 NLA catalogue entry Ober-Ammergau, and its great passion drama of 1900 by Agnes Grant Hay : Elliot Stock, 1902, (illustrated) 1903.NLA catalogue entry Footprints: A Memoir of the Late Alexander Hay, one of the Fathers and Early Colonists of South Australia by his widow. London : Elliot Stock, 1899. NLA catalogue entry

Works written about her include: A Lady at Sea : the adventures of Agnes Grant Hay by Anthony Laube, 2001

Hay and his second wife had four children: Gertrude Hay (1873–1952) married Dr. Philip Gosse on 14 July 1908. Philip was author of The Pirates Who's Who Alexander Gosse Hay (1874–1901) William Gosse Hay (1875–1945) was an author. He married Mary Violet Williams, daughter of Rev. Francis Williams on 26 October 1901. Helen "Dolly" Hay (1877–1909), the youngest daughter, and her mother, second wife Agnes Grant née Gosse, were lost at sea on the ill-fated .

A reversible lectern was erected in St Augustine's Church, Victor Harbor, in memory of Agnes Grant and Helen Hay.