Robert Henry Purvis
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Robert Henry Purvis or Bob Purvis (c. 1885 – 30 September 1965) was a bush worker and pastoralist that spent much of his life in Central Australia in the Northern Territory.[1]
Purvis was born in Aberdeen in Scotland in about 1885 and very little is known of his early life and education but there is evidence that he began, but did not complete, a law degree.[1]
When he first immigrated to Australia he did so as a sport instructor and he worked with men Weber, Shorthose, and Rice who ran several gymnasiums in Melbourne and around Australia.[2][3] He was particularly skilled in gymnastics, boxing and wrestling.[1]
At an unknown data he broke his hand during a title fight and, refusing the suggestion of Australian surgeons, refused to have it amputated and returned to England where two of his knuckles were removed and the hand was reset. This injury would cause his difficulty with his hand for the rest of his life[1]
After this he returned to Melbourne but, unable to find work due to the damage to his hand, he travelled to Tarcoola in South Australia and then further north into South Australia where he worked on the construction of the Central Australia Railway where he worked from the Irrapanta Siding; here he shoveled sand and was paid six shillings a day.[1]
During this time he slowly built up more use of his had and begun to take on contract work to repair yards and wells and, in 1906, helped to rebuild the homestead at Purple Downs Station which was north of present day Woomera.[1]
Purvis was a horse lover and soon he began operating horse teams, and then camel teams, between Oodnadatta and Daly Waters and he worked for Charles Bagot and Fred Marsh for the first three years until he earned enough money to purchase his own string of 20 camels.[1] It was during this time that Purvis met with Robert Bruce Plowman, a padre for the Australian Inland Mission, who recorded his love of scotch whiskey and that he had the 'drinking capacity of a camel' and referred to his as 'Scotch Bob'.[4]
Soon after their purchase of these camels though, and on his first trip, most of them died after eating Gastrolobium, a poisonous bush, which passing through Murray Downs Station.[1]
