John Hart (South Australian colonist)
John Hart | |
|---|---|
| 10th Premier of South Australia | |
| In office 30 May 1870 – 10 November 1871 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor | Sir James Fergusson |
| Preceded by | Henry Strangways |
| Succeeded by | Arthur Blyth |
| In office 24 September 1868 – 13 October 1868 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor | Sir James Fergusson |
| Preceded by | Henry Ayers |
| Succeeded by | Henry Ayers |
| In office 23 October 1865 – 28 March 1866 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Governor | Dominick Daly |
| Preceded by | Henry Ayers |
| Succeeded by | James Boucaut |
| Treasurer of South Australia | |
| In office 30 May 1870 – 10 November 1871 | |
| Premier | himself |
| Preceded by | Edward Hamilton |
| Succeeded by | Sir Arthur Blyth |
| In office 15 July 1863 – 22 March 1865 | |
| Premier | Sir Henry Ayers Sir Arthur Blyth |
| Preceded by | Lavington Glyde |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Reynolds |
| In office 30 September 1857 – 12 June 1858 | |
| Premier | Sir Richard Hanson |
| Preceded by | J.B. Hughes |
| Succeeded by | B. T. Finniss |
| In office 21 August 1857 – 1 September 1857 | |
| Premier | John Baker |
| Preceded by | Sir Robert Torrens |
| Succeeded by | J.B. Hughes |
| Member of the House of Assembly of South Australia | |
| In office 4 May 1868 – 28 January 1873 | |
| Preceded by | Sir James Boucaut |
| Succeeded by | Rowland Rees |
| Constituency | The Burra |
| In office 8 May 1862 – 28 March 1866 | |
| Preceded by | P.B. Coglin |
| Succeeded by | Edward Hamilton |
| Constituency | Light |
| In office 9 March 1857 – 23 August 1859 | |
| Preceded by | seat established |
| Succeeded by | William Owen |
| Constituency | Port Adelaide |
| Member of the Legislative Council of South Australia for Victoria | |
| In office 7 July 1854 – 2 February 1857 | |
| In office 12 July 1851 – 7 July 1853 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 February 1809 |
| Died | 28 January 1873 (aged 63) |
Captain John Hart CMG (25 February 1809 – 28 January 1873) was a South Australian politician and a Premier of South Australia.
Early life
Hart was born in England, son of journalist/newspaper publisher John Harriott Hart and Mary Hart née Glanville.[1] probably at 23 Warwick Lane off Newgate Street, London, and baptised at Christ Church Greyfriars, London. At 12 years of age he first went to sea, visiting Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania, Australia) in September 1828 in the Magnet. In 1832 Hart was in command of the schooner Elizabeth, a sealer operating from Tasmania and visiting Kangaroo Island and Gulf St Vincent.[2] Early January 1838 he was "on the River Murray near Mount Hope" (perhaps the Lachlan near Hillston) and foresaw the great thoroughfare it would become in the second half of that century.[3] Hack also gave Hart two acres (0.8 ha) of land in Adelaide. In 1839 he managed a whaling station at Encounter Bay.
In January 1843 Hart sailed to England in command of the South Australian Company's ageing barque Sarah and Elizabeth, delivering it to London for sale. Aboard as a passenger was the explorer John Hill, from whom Hart had just purchased Section 2112 at Port Adelaide, in partnership with Jacob Hagen. In December 1843 Hart returned to Adelaide in command of the barque Augustus of which he was part owner with Jacob Hagen and Hagen's brother. Among the passengers was the artist George French Angas.
He settled near Port Adelaide, where he joined with H. Kent Hughes as merchants Hughes and Hart then, as Hart & Company, established large and successful flour mills. His flour mill at the Port was regarded as one of the best, and "Hart's Flour" commanded the highest prices in Australia.[4] John Hart & Co. merged with the Adelaide Milling Company in 1882.[5]
He was a member of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society and its president from 1858 to 1859.
Political career
In 1851, he was elected to the Legislative Council. Hart resigned in 1853 to visit England and was re-elected the next year, serving until the Council expired in 1857.[6]
Hart was member for Light from May 1868 to April 1870.[6] including a second short stint as premier from 24 September 1868 to 13 October 1868.
At the 1870 election, Hart changed seats to represent The Burra, the seat he retained until his death.[6][7] He was premier and Treasurer again from 30 May 1870 to 10 November 1871.
One newspaper obituary gave the opinion that Hart had been unfairly criticised in several of his decisions (and had been subsequently vindicated) and should have been given credit for the Overland Telegraph Line rather than Sir Henry Ayers.[8]
Death
John Hart died suddenly on 28 January 1873, while chairing the third annual general meeting of the Mercantile Marine Insurance Company at the Adelaide Town Hall, leaving a widow and a large family.[4][8]
Recognition
Hart was created C.M.G. in 1870.
Family
John Hart married Margaret Gillmor Todd ( Abt. 1815 – 1876) fourth daughter of Charles Hawkes Todd and Elizabeth Bentley (and sister of James Henthorn Todd, Robert Bentley Todd, William Gowan Todd, and Armstrong Todd) on 12 May 1845; among their two sons and five daughters were:
- Elizabeth Sarah Hart (9 March 1846 – 3 June 1908) married Henry Brook Dobbin (ca.1840 – 22 July 1873) on 3 July 1867
- Margaret Hart (14 May 1847 – 2 August 1920) married Arthur Powell; she founded St. Margaret's Home for convalescents, Semaphore.[9]
- John Hart, Jr. (16 July 1848 – 15 August 1881) married Emily Lavinia Finch (1849 – 5 October 1939) on 8 August 1877; he was MHA for Port Adelaide 1880–1881. He died at Wooton Lea, Glen Osmond
- Mary Hart (9 September 1849 – 16 April 1915) married Henry Huth Walters (March 1841 – ) on 14 October 1868
- Charles Hawkes Todd Hart (19 November 1850 – ) was manager Port Adelaide flour mill 1873, was owner of "Beefacres", near Campbelltown with brother John Hart Jr.;[10] may have returned to England.[8]
- Annie Hart (12 August 1852 – 1 December 1913) married Rowland James Egerton-Warburton (4 February 1846 – 1918) on 14 May 1872. Rowland was a son of Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton.[11]
- Katherine Hart (ca.1856 – 21 April 1904) married Algernon Arbuthnott Godwin on 9 January 1879
-
Hart's Mill (1855, centre) and the Adelaide Milling Company flour mill (c.1890, right) are prominent landmarks adjacent to the southern wharf of the Inner Harbour at Port Adelaide.
34°50′33.2″S 138°29′58.4″E / 34.842556°S 138.499556°E -
Glanville Hall, the family home built in 1856 by Captain Hart at Semaphore South, is now owned by the City of Port Adelaide-Enfield, and used as a function centre.
34°50′55.0″S 138°28′53.8″E / 34.848611°S 138.481611°E
See also
Other South Australian flour millers of the period were:
- Dr. Benjamin Archer Kent, for whom Kent Town, the site of his mill, was named.
- John Darling and Son
- John Dunn
- James Magarey and his son William James Magarey
- William Randell
- John Ridley
References
- ^ O'Neill, Sally, 'Hart, John (1809–1873)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hart-john-3729/text5861, accessed 6 November 2012.
- ^ Ross Anderson, "The role of sealers, whalers and Aboriginal people in the exploration of Western Australia's southern ocean frontier," The Great Circle, 40 (2) November 2018, p.17.
- ^ "Romance of the World's Great Rivers". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 1 August 1908. p. 13. Retrieved 14 April 2014 – via Trove.
- ^ a b Heaton, J. H. Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time George Robertson, Sydney, 1879
- ^ "Obituary". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 30 September 1926. p. 13. Retrieved 17 February 2017 – via Trove.
- ^ a b c "Hon John Hart Snr". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- ^ "Complimentary Dinner to Captain Hart, M.P., C.M.G." South Australian Register. 21 May 1870. p. 6. Retrieved 29 December 2024 – via Trove.
- ^ a b c "Death of the Hon. Captain Hart C.M.G." Kapunda Herald and Northern Intelligencer (SA : 1864–1878). SA. 31 January 1873. p. 3. Retrieved 14 April 2014 – via Trove.
- ^ "Romance Of St. Margaret's". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 19 November 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 15 April 2014 – via Trove.
- ^ "Messrs Hart Bros' Stud Farm at Beefacres". The South Australian Advertiser. South Australia. 13 September 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 11 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Vol. 2, p.1675
Sources
- Sally O'Neill, 'Hart, John (1809–1873)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp 355–356. Retrieved 22 January 2009
- Serle, Percival (1949). "Hart, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
- Harris, Charles Alexander (1901). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.