Boyd, Benjamin (1801-1851), was a Scottish pioneer and adventurer. He gained fame for his business schemes during the early part of the British colonization of Australia.
Boyd was born on Aug. 21, 1801, in Wigtonshire, Scotland. In 1840, he founded the Royal Bank of Australia. As the bank’s representative, Boyd arrived in Sydney, Australia, in 1842. He immediately invested the bank’s money. By 1844, Boyd was one of the largest settlers and traders in the colony of New South Wales. He built his own port, called Boyd Town or Boydtown, on Twofold Bay to ship wool from his properties in the Monaro district of southeastern New South Wales. He also set up a whaling station at Boyd Town. However, Boyd’s ventures lost a great deal of money. In 1847, the bank’s shareholders forced him out of his position.
Many of Boyd’s ventures involved blackbirding—that is, tricking and kidnapping people into slavery or similar conditions. Many businesspeople in colonial Australia used blackbirding as a source of cheap labor. Most of these blackbirders, including Boyd, took people from island nations near Australia.
In 1849, Boyd left Australia and went to the state of California in the United States. There, he prospected for gold without success. On Oct. 15, 1851, Boyd disappeared in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
