Professionals - Pockley family

Robert Pockley, ca. 1885, by Henry King
Carte de visite photograph MLMSS 7324/1

Robert Francis Pockley (1823-1892) first went to sea at the age of nine and gained his master's ticket in 1842. He was a sea captain who became a shipowner and harbourmaster of Sydney in the 1850s. Pockley was harbourmaster in 1857 when the clipper Dunbar was wrecked on rocks at the foot of South Head. There was only one survivor. Captain Pockley was involved in the investigation of the shipwreck and the retrieval and disposal of the bodies.  His report on the wreck for the New South Wales Parliament was published in Votes and proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, Volume 2, 1857.

Captain Pockley married Selina Antill, daughter of Major Henry Antill (formerly aide-de-camp to Governor Macquarie), in 1854 and the couple had 15 children. The family lived at Lorne, Killara, which was built in the 1880s. They had an orchard on the property comprising over 500 citrus and fruit trees. One of the Pockley sons, Francis Antill Pockley, was one of the first ophthalmic surgeons in Sydney. He acquired the land after his father's death and the Lorne estate was subdivided and sold in allotments from 1903.

Robert Pockley’s grandson, Brian Pockley, was the first Australian to be killed in World War I. He was killed at Rabaul on 11 September 1914, while serving with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. He was one of two sons of Dr Francis Antill Pockley of Greystanes (later Mount Alverna), Wahroonga. Another son, Jack, was killed at Villers-Bretonneux on 30 March 1918. Both Jack and Brian Pockley are honoured by memorial plaques in St. Andrew’s Church, Wahroonga.

 [Pockley family], Pockley family portraits, ca. 1874 -1890s, from Hinder and Pockley family pictorial collection
Photograph PXE 692/8

> The Library holds records relating to the Pockley family and the papers of Brian Pockley