Selwyn Aubrey Robinson
Year Inducted: 2003
Makaweli Ranch | Kaua'i
Selwyn Robinson was manager of Niihau Ranch from 1917 to 1922. He then managed Makaweli Ranch on Kaua`i for the next fifty years. He is remembered for setting a very high standard for the operation, and the fact that the ranch still exists today, is a testimony to his leadership.
While he more than lived up to his role in the management of the ranch, Selwyn was a “hands-on” manager, and very much involved with running the ranch day to day. He met with the cowboys early each morning, conversing with them in Hawaiian about the day’s work. He participated actively in the quarterly separating and branding drives, personally selecting all the animals to be permanently added to the herd.
For many years, before selling it to the State, Selwyn owned Kalalau Valley on the Napali Coast, and ran cattle there. Each summer he took the cowboys from Makaweli to camp in the valley and they would bring out the cattle along the narrow trail to Haena. In the early days, he also used to hunt wild cattle in the high mountains of Kaua`i.
Selwyn became president of Gay & Robinson, Inc. in the early 1970’s, turning over the managing of Makaweli Ranch to his son, Warren. Even then, he continued to take a keen interest in the ranch until his death.
He was loved and respected by the cowboys who worked with him, and knew him as a paniolo.
Whether or not they also knew he raised orchids and received a visit from Liliuokalani with his family
when she visited Kaua`i, is something only Selwyn knew.