Philip Levi

Philip Levi
Born(1822-02-01)1 February 1822
Brixton, Surrey, England
Died13 May 1898(1898-05-13) (aged 76)
Vale Park, South Australia
Resting placeWest Terrace Cemetery
Occupationpastoralist
PartnerElizabeth Perry Symes
ChildrenAnthony Symes (1844–1848), James Frederick Levi (1846–1878), Edmund Phillip Symes Levi (1848–1848), Charles Symes Levi (1849–1900), Andrew Philip Levi (1851–1927), Edmund Symes Levi (1853–1877), Adelaide Phillipi Field (1855–1930), Caroline Elizabeth Symes (1857–1857), George Nathaniel Levi (1862–1897), Caroline Elizabeth Symes Levi (1864–1864), Frederick Symes Levi (1865–1887)
Parent(s)Nathan Philip Levi (1790–1843) and Sarah nee Goldsmid (1795–1889)[1]
RelativesCharles Knight (husband of partner's sister)

Philip Levi (1 February 1822 – 13 May 1898) was an early settler and pastoralist of South Australia.[2]

Born at Brixton Hill, Surrey, England,[3] Levi arrived in South Australia at the age of sixteen, aboard the Eden in 1838 with his parents Nathaniel Philip Levi and Sarah Levi (née Goldsmid), and their five other children. He was involved in pastoral and mercantile businesses in the north of South Australia and became a well known and influential businessman. His pastoral interests involved sheep and cattle in various partnerships, many of which in the period 1855–1870 involved Alfred Watts (1815–1884). His shipping interests included, with Jacob Smith, a share in the Port Adelaide tug Goolwa.[4] He was in 1863 one of the founders and a trustee of the Adelaide Club, where a portrait of him still hangs today.[5]

In 1853, Levi purchased Vale House,[6] located near the River Torrens, east of Adelaide (now in the suburb of Vale Park). Over the next 96 years, it became one of the centres of social activity of Adelaide society.[6]

In 1870 Levi's Company disposed of many of its properties including Moolooloo and Wirrealpa, Oulnina and Wadnaminga, Mount Margaret and Booleroo Station. Together these properties were stocked with over 70,000 sheep and 3,000 cattle.[7]

He died at Vale House and was buried in the Jewish section of the West Terrace Cemetery, where his father was the first to be interred. His estate passed on to other members of his family, and in 1947, his niece left Vale House and the adjoining land to the Town of Walkerville for the purposes of a public park.[3][6] The house is today a part of Levi Caravan Park, which bears his name.

  1. ^ "The Advertiser SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1889". The South Australian Advertiser. South Australia. 16 March 1889. p. 4. Retrieved 13 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "FUNERAL OF THE LATE MR. PHILIP LEVI". The Advertiser. South Australia. 16 May 1898. p. 6. Retrieved 1 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b "The Manning Index of South Australian History".
  4. ^ "Death of Captain J. W. Smith". South Australian Register. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 22 December 1891. p. 7. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Adelaide Jewish Museum". Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Adelaide's Levi Caravan Park – Vale House".
  7. ^ "Advertising". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 8 August 1870. p. 4. Retrieved 16 August 2014.