Adelaide and Goodwood Tramway Company.

John Penman (1817 - 1900)

Penman was an engraver, lithographer and copperplate printer working in partnership with William Galbraith as “Penman & Galbraith". Born in Glasgow 28 Jul 1817, the son of Andrew Penman, a Trongate bookseller, and his wife Christian Niven. Penman is reported to have been apprenticed to the Glasgow lithographers “Allen & Fergusson”, later moving to Liverpool and then London. The collapse of the railway boom saw him out of work, so he and a colleague, William Galbraith, decided to emigrate. They decided on South Australia after reading John Stephens — probably his pamphlet “South Australia” (1839) rather than his full-length “Land of promise” of the same year. Galbraith recalled in 1911 that the deciding factor was that Stephens “mentioned that butter was so plentiful and so cheap that people were in the habit of greasing their boots with it …. Now, as butter at that time in London was looked upon as quite a luxury, we really thought that, other things being equal. South Australia must have a touch of Paradise about it” (Evening Journal, 17 Feb 1911). On 31 Jul 1848 Penman and Galbraith set sail in the Hooghly from London, reaching Adelaide on 5 December. They acquired a small press from an amateur artist and lithographer and set up in Peacock’s Buildings, initially in company with James Stirling Campbell, producing “Maps, plans, drawings of machinery, architectural and landscape drawings, circulars, bills of lading, bills of exchange, bill heads, scrip, labels, business and visiting cards, &c., lithographed in every variety of style with neatness and dispatch” (South Australian, 8 Feb 1850). The partners acquired over ninety acres of suburban land in Adelaide in December 1853. The partnership with Galbraith was formally dissolved on Penman’s retirement 30 Oct 1885, and on 2 Apr 1887 Penman auctioned off his lithographic equipment, as well as his household furniture and effects, apparently to settle his debts. 20 Clyde Terrace, Glasgow — 1834 Peacock’s Buildings, Adelaide — 1849 Grenfell Street, corner of King William Street, Adelaide — 1849-1850 Pirie Street, Adelaide — 1851 60 Rundle Street, Adelaide — 1862 Currie Street, Adelaide — 1876-1878 Charles Street, Norwood (home) — 1876 Halifax Street, Adelaide (home) — 1878-1881 Tavistock Street, Adelaide — 1887 Rundle Street, Kent Town, Adelaide — 1893-1900

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William Galbraith (1822 - 1911)

Galbraith was a lithographer who was in partnership with John Penman as “Penman & Galbraith”. The son of William Galbraith and his wife Eliza. According to his own account, published in the Adelaide Evening Journal 17 Feb 1911, Galbraith was born in Glasgow 20 Feb 1822. “About the middle of the year 1848 I felt very much run down, as I had worked nearly the whole of the year 1847 at the rate of nine days a week, owing to the railway mania which attacked so many people in the old country. So when a friend, who was out of work at the time suggested emigration to Australia, I agreed at once. At first we had doubt about the colony to which it would be best for us to go, but a lucky chance put us in possession of a pamphlet [by John Stephens] concerning South Australia, in which the writer showed the great advantages which that province offered to emigrants in its healthy climate, fertile soil, and cheap cost of living. One point I well remember was that the writer mentioned that butter was so plentiful and so cheap that people were in the habit of greasing their boots with it … Now, as butter at that time in London was looked upon as quite a luxury, we really thought that, other things being equal, South Australia must have a touch of Paradise about it”. He and John Penman left Plymouth and arrived at Adelaide on the Hooghly 5 Dec 1848 and soon after acquired a lithographic press from an amateur printer. They set up the printing business of “Penman & Galbraith” in Grenfell Street. A brief partnership with William Macartney in Melbourne was ended 16 Jul 1853, with Galbraith returning to Adelaide in December of that year, resuming his partnership with Penman. They acquired over ninety acres of suburban land in Adelaide in that month. The partnership with Penman was formally dissolved on Penman’s retirement 30 Oct 1885, with Galbraith continuing for a time in partnership with his son. After his wife died aged fifty-eight 10 Nov 1889, he continued to live at his home in Charles Street, Norwood, with his two unmarried daughters. Galbraith died at home at the age of eighty-nine 16 Feb 1911. 71 Stockwell Street Closs, Lanark, Scotland — 1841 Grenfell Street, Adelaide — 1849 Pirie Street, Adelaide — 1851 60 Rundle Street, Adelaide — 1862 Gresham Street, Adelaide — 1885-1886 Charles Street, Norwood — 1889-1911

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