John King

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Unknown maker (Australia), The Flag of the Southern Cross (Eureka Flag), 1854, wool, cotton.
Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection. Gift of the King family, 2001

Background

John King was born in the parish of Tumurah, County Down, Ireland, the son of James King, farmer, and Jane (nee McAllister). John King attempted to join the British Army several times, but was rejected on account of his age. Finally on 24 November 1846, aged sixteen, he managed to enlist at Lisburn – partly by raising his age to eighteen. He served as a Private in the 61st Regiment (The South Gloucestershire Regiment) for six years and 306 days – being with the Army of Punjab [sic] in India in 1848-49, being present during the ‘Passage of Cinaub’, and at the battles of Sadsolopoor, Chillianwalla and Goojerat. On 1 March 1853 he paid £18 to gain his discharge from the army and came to Australia. After trying his hand at mining, on 25 March 1854 he joined the police. His record sheet describes him as being ‘age 25, height 5 feet six and a half inches, eyes grey, hair brown; complexion light’.[1]

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

After the Eureka Stockade battle John King began to climb the flag pole flying the Eureka Flag. The pole had been hit by numerous musket balls, and it broke. King took possession of the Eureka Flag as a trophy.[2]

Post 1854 Experiences

John King was a sergeant of police at Ballarat and was present at the Eureka Stockade on 03 December 1854. In a witness statement King said he saw James Beattie and Raffaello Carboni taken out of the Eureka Stockade.[3]

The family moved to Warrnambool where John King ran an aerated water factory for nine years before moving to Lake Bolac where he ran a mill. He later moved to the Wimmera where he took up land called “Kingsley” at Nullan, near Minyip. There they lived in their old house which had been transported by bullock wagon from Lake Bolac– it was destroyed in a fire in 1951. John King was a member of the Minyip Shire Council and twice President of the shire. He died on 23 October 1881 at Warrnambool, and was buried in the Dunmunkle Cemetery, Minyip. Isabella died in 1900 at Minyip.[4]

In 1895 King’s Family presented the Eureka Flag to the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. In 1967, it was proven to be genuine, and was formally unveiled by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on 3 December 1973. John King’s single barrel fowling piece, used at the Eureka Stockade, is on display at Ballarat’s Eureka Centre.[5]

Family

John King married Isabella Convery, Daughter of Bernard King and Mary Ann (nee Moore). They had seven children:

1. Bernard James, born in 1864 at Warrnambool;
2. Edward born in 1866 in Warrnambool (married Emily Jane Quinton in 1896);
3.Lewis Peter Arthur, born in 1867 at Warrnambool (married Eliza Grose in 1896);
4. Mary Ann, born in 1869 at Warrnambool (died in infancy);
5. Albert John, born in 1872 at Lake Bolac;
6. Amy Isabel, born in 1875 at Lake Bolac;
7. William Robert, born in 1878, in Minyip.[6]

See also

Eureka Flag

Police

Further Reading

Corfield, J., Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.

References

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_King_(police_officer), accessed 08 April 2017.
  2. Blake, Gregory, To Pierce the Tyrant's Heart, Australian Military History Publications, 2009, p.173.
  3. The Argus, 11 December 1854.
  4. Corfield, J., Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
  5. Corfield, J., Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
  6. Corfield, J., Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.

External links