History
The family was founded by William Holyman, [3] an English mariner who established the William Holyman & Sons shipping company in Australia in the 19th century. [4] Holyman had four children, thirty-one grandchildren, and eighteen great-grandchildren. [5] William Holyman & Sons was sold to Thomas Nationwide Transport in the 1970s. [6] The company was spun-off from Thomas Nationwide Transport under the name Holyman in 1994, [7] [8] before being acquired by the Patrick Corporation in 2000. [3] The last vessel owned by the Holyman family was the Mary Holyman, which stopped trading in 1987. [9]
The family's shipping, mail delivery, and passenger transportation enterprise expanded to include automobiles and aviation. [10] Members of the family founded timber mills, hotels, food processing businesses, and car dealerships throughout Australia. [11] In 1910, they established King Island Steamers. [12]
Beginning in 1907, the Holymans began purchasing grazing land in the Bass Strait islands. They first purchased Waterhouse Island and Twenty Day Island (also called Ninth Island). [12] [13] By 1911, they had 27,000 acres of land in the islands. [5] The family purchased Robbins Island and Walker Island in 1916. Robbins Island was later sold to cattle rancher Eugene Hammond, who had married Mary Holyman. [14] The Holymans purchased Trefoil Island in 1926, selling it in 1948. [12] In 1986, the family established a winery in the Tamar Valley, Tasmania. [15]
Australian National Airways
In 1932, William Holyman's great-grandsons Victor Holyman and Ivan Nello Holyman established Holyman's Airways Ltd, which became Australian National Airways. In 1934, Victor died in an aviation accident while flying over the Bass Strait. [16] The company was acquired by Ansett Australia in 1956. [17]