Hugh Middlemiss was born in 1814 at Perth, Scotland to John and Jean (nee Cameron) Middlemiss. The 1835 Electoral Register for Perth & Kinross, Scotland shows his occupation as being ‘Cart and Plough Wright.’ Hugh Middlemiss married Jane Fleming at Perth, Scotland on 4 June 1839. Jane was born in 1803 at Perth to Alexander and Margaret (nee Stewart or Stuart) Fleming. On 29 October 1839 Hugh and Jane Middlemiss arrived at Port Phillip aboard the Daniel Clarke, with Hugh listed as a ‘Cartwright’ and engaged by a Mr Walsh.
In June 1841 Hugh Middlemiss started a partnership with Humphrey Richardson and took over a business as Coach Builders and Agricultural Implement Makers in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne from a Mr Brown, but by April 1842 the partnership was dissolved. Hugh was active in the politics of Melbourne and appears to have made influential friends. On 12 November 1842 the Melbourne Times, page 3 reported that ‘… the undersigned … nominate Henry Condell, Esq. for the office of Common Councilman, for the said ward …’ The undersigned included Hugh Middlemiss, and the nomination was accepted by Condell [1797-1871] who went on to become the first Mayor of Melbourne from 1842 to 1844.
Hugh was still living at Lonsdale st, Melbourne and was referred to as ‘our respected townsman’ when an article was published in the Port Phillip Gazette on 23 December 1843 announcing the death of his father John on his journey to Port Phillip on board the Mary Michelson.
It was reported in the Port Phillip Gazette on Wednesday,19 November 1845 that Hugh Middlemiss had been ‘…granted a Publican’s license for his house situated on the Winding Creek, to be named The Salutation Inn…’ The Winding Creek later became known as Longwood which was situated at the foot of a steep range, with a clear gurgling stream (the Winding Creek) and plenty of grass. It became a well-known coaching centre. Bark stripping was active in the area which was surrounded by large sheep runs owned by Charles Ryan, Arthur and Henry Wheeler and others.
On 11 November 1845 it was reported in the Port Phillip Patriot on page 2 that several persons, including Hugh Middlemiss, had been fined at the Mayor’s Court for ‘… suffering unregistered dogs to remain on their respective premises …’ On 2 November 1847 the Melbourne Argus on page 2 reported that ‘… two men had a dispute at Middlemiss’s public-house … when one of them, a youth armed with a double barrelled gun, shot his opponent …from the effects of which he died in about ten minutes.’ By January 1848 Hugh Middlemiss was well established at Longwood and his name was used to identify the area as seen in an article in The Melbourne 3 January 1848: ‘For the last seven years the Mail from Melbourne to Yass … has been conveyed … via Kilmore, Seymour, Middlemiss’s, &c.’ The Euroa Advertiser reported on Fri 1 Oct 1920 Page 3 that ‘Mails and coaches came from Melbourne along old Sydney-road tri-weekly, and dashed down the Longwood hill with bugles blowing to rouse Billy the Tollman.’
A report in The Argus on 8 March 1853 gives a glowing review of Hugh and Jane Middlemiss and their management of the Salutation Inn:
Of the Salutation Inn, Longwood, and of Mr. and Mrs. Middlemiss, its excellent host and hostess … has the old fashioned quiet, cozy, comfort of the English inn during the coaching days … I experienced the utmost attention and civility … and it will be long ere I forget the jolly radiant physiognomy of Middlemiss, or the motherly deportment of his wife.
In February 1854 Hugh Middlemiss received payment of four shillings for repairs to the Police stables at Longwood and in December 1856 he was accepted as a contractor for the ‘supply of rations to prisoners confined in locks-ups … at Longwood …’. According to The Argus on 21 February 1857 Hugh Middlemiss was holding a ‘Ball and Concert’ in commemoration of his new Hotel, at Longwood ‘… where a sumptuous luncheon will be provided…. Tickets five shillings each.’ He opened the new palatial hotel on the Sydney Road (near the Winding Creek bridge and the toll gate) and named it the Longwood Hotel.
In 1858 Hugh Middlemiss was listed as the Postmaster at Longwood, and on 10 January 1859 a notice in the Ovens and Murray Advertiser at page 2 advised that the Returning Officer will hold an election for one Member of the Legislative Assembly ‘… at Middlemiss’s Inn, Longwood …’.
An article in the Bendigo Advertiser on 3 January 1860, described a destructive fire on 29 December 1859 on the premises of Mr. Middlemiss totalling a loss of near £1000. The building alone was insured but this is a small part of the loss, 7 horses, fifteen tons of hay, forty sacks of oats, a chaise cart, a chaff-cutting machine, seven or eight sets of harness, innumerable other articles were destroyed. It shows that Hugh and Jane’s business was very substantial and successful given the stock and equipment destroyed by the fire.
The Ovens and Murray Advertiser on 8 August 1860, at page 2, announced Hugh’s tragic death on 31 July 1860 aged 46 as follows:
‘FATAL ACCIDENT – We regret to learn … Mr. Middlemiss, licensed victualler at Longwood, while driving a restive horse in the bush, near his residence, was thrown from his gig … expired on Tuesday. The news of this melancholy fate has caused the whole district to be overcast with gloom, as he was much respected. Mr. Middlemiss was one of our earliest colonists, having arrived in Port Phillip, in 1840 when quite a young man. He earned on his trade of blacksmith … and was much respected by travellers on the Sydney-road for his punctual attention to business and generally obliging disposition. He had amassed a large fortune, by various industrial pursuits, and leaves his family handsomely provided for. His hospitality was proverbial, and his extreme liberality to those in distress has been for years the theme of general admiration. Few men in his position of life have been so numerously and deeply regretted as Hugh Middlemiss, the poor man’s friend.’
Hugh died a wealthy man, his estate estimated to be worth less than £15,000, and included Killeen, a sheep station near Longwood of approximately 43,000 acres and carrying between 6000 and 7000 sheep, including 640 acres of freehold with a magnificent homestead and garden grounds. His Will does not mention any issue.
In 1862 Jane Middlemiss renewed the Publican’s Licence for the Longwood Hotel at Longwood in her own name. Jane Middlemiss died on 9 February 1879 and was buried at old Longwood with her husband.
Contributed by Dean Wheeler Member No. 1444