John Aitken of Mount Aitken

John Aitken of Mount Aitken (Portrait by Francis Frederic Hutton)

John Aitken was a pioneer sheepbreeder and leading flockmaster in the Port Phillip District, having first arrived at Melbourne on 19 August 1835 on the “Endeavour” from Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land. He went back to Launceston later that month but returned to Port Phillip on 1 April 1836 per “Chili” with a flock of sheep which were landed at Arthur’s Seat with heavy losses. After giving the surviving sheep time to recuperate he drove his flock up to Melbourne and then north-west to what is now the Sunbury area. Here he established the ‘Mount Aitken’ run which became renown for its Saxon Merino sheep.

In the census of 9 November 1836 he was described as being located near the Salt Water River, about 20 miles from Captain William Lonsdale’s HQ in Melbourne. There were four males over 12 years on the property and their residence was still a tent. They had one horse and 1,000 sheep with Aitken acting as agent for Edmund and Francis Bryant as well as on his own account.

When Governor Richard Bourke visited Melbourne from Sydney in March 1837 he rode inland and included a stay at the ‘Mount Aitken’ run on his tour. From there John Aitken was able to act as guide for the Governor’s party to the top of Mount Macedon where they viewed the surrounding countryside.

In early 1838 while Aitken was visiting the station of Mr. Howey he became involved in the capture of an escaped convict named Comerford who had arrived there armed with a rifle and demanding a horse. Fortunately another convict named Charles Cole who was working on Mr. Howey’s station as a stockkeeper was able to help overpower Comerford and recapture him for which Cole received a conditional pardon.

Then, on 14 April 1838 Aitken and his servants were confronted by a group of about 40 aborigines at ‘Mount Aitken.’ The aborigines were armed with spears and three guns. Aitken was able to bluff them into believing that he had more servants about and get them to retreat behind a rock. He then rode around behind them and with the assistance of a Mr. White was able to get two of the guns from the aborigines, after which they went away.

In April 1840 Aitken married Emmaline Stright Jane Harvey and over the following years had five daughters and a son.

When the 1841 census was taken there were 19 people living Duck Ponds, ‘Mount Aitken.’ Besides John Aitken, his wife and newborn daughter there were 16 single men working there, mainly shepherds and stockmen, and including one convict on private assignment. They had by that time constructed a wooden house.

Aitken’s sheep were consistently fetching high prices at sales and in 1842 he won half of the awards at the second Melbourne Show.

In 1850 Aitken lost part of his ‘Mount Aitken’ estate when William John Turner Clarke obtained a ‘Special Survey’ in the area, after which Aitken purchased the ‘Mount Elephant No. 2’ run and stocked it with sheep from ‘Mount Aitken.’

A public subscription in 1854 raised the money for a portrait of John Aitken to be painted by artist Francis Frederic Hutton with the intention that it would be hung in the Melbourne Town Hall. This painting is now in the ‘City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection.’

In 1858 Aitken was in declining health. In mid July of that year he sailed from Melbourne on the “Emeu” for Suez en route to England but died shortly after arriving in London.

John Aitken was born on 20 April 1792 and baptised on 10 May 1792 at Kirknewton and East Calder, Midlothian, Scotland, the son of James Aitken and his wife Margaret, nee Brown. His family is thought to have been connected with the nearby Listonshiels Farm, near Balerno. He is thought to have arrived in Van Diemen’s Land about 1825 and by 1833 was farming near Oatlands, V.D.L.

He was married to Emmaline Stright Jane Harvey on 9 April 1840 in the Presbyterian Church, Melbourne by the Rev. James Forbes. The witnesses were William Hutton of Saltwater, settler and Frederick Pittman of Melbourne, Merchant. Their children were:

1. Margaret Aitken, born 25 January 1841 and baptised 4 August 1842 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 3 January 1860 at St. Mary’s Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland and afterwards at St. Thomas’ English Episcopalian Chapel there, to James Murphy Esq., of Lara, Melbourne, Australia.

2. Emmaline Aitken, born 9 July 1842 and baptised 4 August 1842 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 18 December 1861 at St. Thomas’s Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland to John Ingle, late 78th Highlanders, eldest son of John Ingle, Esq., Sandford Orleigh, Newton Abbot, Devon, England.

3. Jessie Ann Aitken, born 4 July 1844 and baptised 25 August 1846 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 17 August 1867 at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, London, England to Jonathan Purse Groome Harding of Besborough, County Tipperary, Ireland.

4. Joan Merino Aitken, born 7 April 1847 and baptised 18 February 1852 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 17 August 1867 at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, London, England to William Peel, junior, of Coleshill Street, Eaton Square, London, England.

5. Clara Jane Aitken, born 22 December 1851 and baptised 18 February 1852 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 1 June 1880 at St. Stephen’s Church, South Kensington, London, England to Captain Robert Stevenson, 5th Dragoon Guards, fourth son of Mr. N. Stevenson of Braidwood, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

6. John Aitken, born 8 April 1856 and baptised 13 April 1857 at St. James Anglican Church, Melbourne; married 23 October 1878 in the private chapel at Avon Castle, Ringwood to Gwendoline Evelyn Fitzmaurice Turner-Turner, only daughter of John Turner-Turner, Esq., of Avon, Ringwood, Somerset, England; died 31 January 1918 at Topsham, England as Captain John Aitken, formerly of Gillingham, Dorset, England; cremated 2 February 1918 at Woking Cemetery, Surrey, England.

John Aitken, senior, died on 21 October 1858 at the Great Northern Hotel, London, England shortly after arrival. He was buried at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland with a substantial stone monument over his grave. His widow remarried in 1870 at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, London, England to William Kaye.

(Source of Image: City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

Contributed by Alexander Romanov-Hughes – PPPG Member No. 52