When Margaret Campbell died in Colac in December 1899, the newspaper notice did not describe her as a woman in her own right. Instead, she was identified as the widow of Robert Wells Campbell and the mother of Robert Campbell, the popular railway engine driver whose tragic death had shocked north-eastern Victoria five years earlier.
Born in Waterford, Ireland, about 1829, Margaret emigrated to Victoria as a young woman during the gold rush era. In 1858 she married blacksmith Robert Wells Campbell at Beechworth and together they raised four children in the Rutherglen district.
Life brought both joy and heartbreak. Two of their children, John and Lucinda, died young, leaving only Robert and Margaret to reach adulthood. The family was well known in the district through Robert Campbell's work on the railways and his father's reputation as a blacksmith and miner.
Margaret lost her husband after twenty-eight years of marriage in 1886. Three years later her son Robert married Jane Dimmock and she became a grandmother. Yet further tragedy lay ahead. In 1894 Robert was killed in a horrific railway accident near Benalla. His funeral drew hundreds of mourners and railway employees later raised funds to assist his widow and children.
Margaret's only surviving child, also named Margaret, had recently married Peter McLeod, a widower from Colac. While visiting the newly married couple at their home in Gravesend Street, Margaret died on 10 December 1899.
Although she was only visiting Colac, it became Margaret's final resting place. Beneath a concrete cross and surrounded by a wrought-iron fence, her grave still stands in the Colac Cemetery. After a lifetime in which the records often identified her through others, the monument bears simply her own name.

Research by Jill Judd
Story by Merrill O'Donnell

© 2026 Colac & District Family History Group Inc.
All rights reserved.

Life stories have been researched and compiled by the Colac & District Family History Group Inc. and its independent contributors. This material must not be copied or reproduced without permission. AI tools have been used to assist.

For more information, please contact the Colac & District Family History Group Inc.