John Ellis (pastoralist)

John Ellis (c. 1803 – 22 March 1873) generally known as "Captain Ellis", was a pastoralist and businessman prominent in the early days of South Australia.

He was a son of an Oxford clergyman of the Church of England.^[1]

Career

He arrived in South Australia from England on the Buckinghamshire on 22 March 1839,^[2] listed as "Captain Ellis", though on what basis it is not known, and in company of a George Ellis.^[3]

In July 1839 he and his longtime friend Captain William Allen purchased two thirds of "Milner Estate" near Port Gawler from George Milner Stephen,^[4] the misrepresentation of which transaction was to haunt Stephen in later years. In 1855 he purchased Allen's share.^[5] This area includes the land later known as Buckland Park, which he sold to Dr. J. H. Browne and Col. P. J. Browne in 1856. He took up the nearby Hummocks run in 1842,and Barabba, north-east of Mallala, South Australia, in August 1844.

He bought land in New Zealand.

Starting in 1851, he purchased over 50,000 freehold acres in the Hundreds of Benara and Blanche, between Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell and 34 square miles of leasehold land, where he ran some 73,000 sheep,^[6] He purchased the remainder of Benara (originally spelled Benaira) and an adjacent station, Coola comprising 22,000 acres of freehold and 36,000 acres of leasehold, from the South Australian Company in 1875.^[7]

Managers

The general manager of most of his properties, and largely responsible for his good fortune, was Hugh Cameron (ca.May 1796 – 10 June 1884).^[8] Born in the Braes of Rannoch, Scotland, he is reported as arriving in South Australia early in 1838, but perhaps arrived on the Thomas Harrison 25 February 1839, or the Lady Bute 18 June 1839. The Hundred of Cameron was named for him.^[9]

Another significant employee was J. C. Kennedy (ca.1827 – 10 October 1897), from the same part of Scotland, who managed the Benara and Coola properties for him, then for his son T. C. Ellis.^[10]

Politics

In June 1851 he accepted the petition of a number of electors for the seat of Flinders in the reconstituted Legislative Council,^[11] and in August 1851 became one of the first sixteen elected parliamentarians in South Australia.^[12]

Retirement and death

He made a considerable fortune and retired with his second wife to England. His son Thomas took over his estates, and his children in turn continued to run Benara and Coola into the 20th Century.^[7]

Family

A brother arrived in Adelaide on the Lord Glenelg on 10 May 1841.^[13]

He was married twice: his first wife, believed by one family researcher to have been Elizabeth Jane White Cathery,^[14] by whom he had eight children including:

• eldest son John Chute Ellis (ca.1847 – 8 August 1926) served with the 13th Huzzars in England and Canada, lived for a time at Benara, purchased Merrivale station on the South Island of New Zealand, then shifted to Tasmania. He married Jessie Margaret White on 20 March 1879; they had two daughters.
• second son Thomas Chute Ellis (28 December 1848 – 21 December 1920) was born at Bayley's Garden in Adelaide, educated at St. Peter's College then Charterhouse and Henley Royal Grammar School. He returned to Australia in 1869 and lived at Benara, taking charge of all his father's investments in Australia and New Zealand. In 1883 gave the tower and clock of the Mount Gambier Town Hall at a cost of £1,000. He married three times: to Mary Victoria Barrow (1854 – 14 January 1877) on 7 April 1875, to Florence B. Ayton on 29 March 1893, and Katherine Isabel ?? (ca.1886 – 29 November 1932). He had four sons (one, Dr. J. C. Ellis, killed in Belgium in June 1917) and a daughter.^[1]

His second wife was Susan Hindmarsh (died 24 August 1882), daughter of Sir John Hindmarsh.

References