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Moorehead"},"datePublished":"1974-01-01","description":"John King (1841-1872), explorer, was born on 5 December 1841 in County Tyrone, Ireland, son of Henry King, soldier in the 95th Highlanders, and his wife Ellen, née Orn.","headline":"King, John (1841–1872)","keywords":"John King, biography","image":"https://adb.anu.edu.au/uploads/adb/3956/A050034.jpg","isPartOf":{"@type":"Book","bookEdition":5,"bookFormat":"https://schema.org/Hardcover","datePublished":1974,"description":"The Australian Dictionary of Biography contains concise, informative and fascinating descriptions of the lives of significant and representative persons in Australian history.","image":"https://adb.anu.edu.au/images/covers/volume5.png","isbn":522840612,"name":"Australian Dictionary of Biography","url":"https://adb.anu.edu.au","copyrightHolder":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Australian National 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class="culturalWarning__message"> <p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website contains names, images, and voices of deceased persons.</p> <p>In addition, some articles contain terms or views that were acceptable within mainstream Australian culture in the period in which they were written, but may no longer be considered appropriate.</p> <p>These articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Australian National University.</p> <p>Older articles are being reviewed with a view to bringing them into line with contemporary values but the original text will remain available for historical context.</p> </div> <div class="culturalWarning__control"> <button id="culturalWarningHide" class="culturalWarning__button">Hide message</button> </div> </div> </header> <div id="pageContentContainer"> <div class="clearFix" id="pageContent"> <div id="pageColumnMain"> <h2>John King (1841–1872)</h2> <p class="authorName">by <a href="/biographies/author/?author=2627">Alan Moorehead</a></p> <div class="publish-notice publish-notice--major-project" style="background-color:#dee9f2;color:#153449;"> <p>This article was published:</p> <ul> <li> in the <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biographies/project/?name=australian-dictionary-biography-volume-5" style="color:#905d27;"> <span class="publish-notice__project-name">Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5</span> </a> , 1974 </li> <li>online in 2006</li> </ul> </div> <div class="biographyContent textContent" id="6237">  <div class="print"> <div class="mainPic"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an22761712" title="John King (1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865"><img src="/uploads/adb/3956/thumbs/A050034_246x550.jpg" alt="John King (1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865" width='246' height='265' /></a> </div> <p class="caption"><span class="captionName">John King </span>(1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865</p><p class="credit"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an22761712">National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an22761712</a></p></div> <p>John King (1841-1872), explorer, was born on 5 December 1841 in County Tyrone, Ireland, son of Henry King, soldier in the 95th Highlanders, and his wife Ellen, née Orn. Educated at the Hibernian School, Phoenix Park, Dublin, he joined the 70th Regiment at 14 and went with it to India. The regiment was later involved in the mutiny and King was present at some of the main engagements. While convalescent in 1859 he met George James Landells who was in India buying camels for <a title="Burke, Robert O'Hara (1821 - 1861)" href="burke-robert-ohara-3116">Robert O'Hara Burke</a>'s expedition. King was discharged from the army and engaged by Landells to supervise the coolies in charge of the camels.</p> <p>Burke's expedition, sponsored by the Royal Society of Victoria, was fêted as it left Melbourne on 20 August 1860. Early in October they reached Menindee where Landells resigned and King was put in charge of the camels. He was also chosen as one of the advance party which set out for Cooper's Creek. They reached it on 11 November and set up Camp LXV. The party split again; Burke, <a title="Wills, William John (1834 - 1861)" href="wills-william-john-4864">William Wills</a>, King and Charley Gray, a sailor, were to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria, 750 miles (1207 km) away, while the depot was left in charge of William Brahe who was expected to wait there for at least three months, as the rearguard with further supplies was expected to arrive in a few days.</p> <p>The four men with six camels and a horse managed to travel some fourteen miles (23 km) a day, reaching their goal on the tidewaters of the Albert River on 11 February 1861. Their return trip was disastrous. They lost their only horse and four of the six camels and ran low in rations. On 17 April Gray died. Four days later the exhausted men made a superhuman effort and in one day covered the remaining thirty miles (48 km) to Camp LXV, arriving at 7.30 in the evening. The only human sign was the word DIG carved on a tree. They dug and found a box of rations and a message from Brahe that the rearguard had not arrived and that he had decided that very morning to return to Menindee with his men. King's surviving camels were too weak to pursue Brahe's party so Burke decided to make for Mount Hopeless, 150 miles (241 km) away, and after two days rest they set out. For two months they struggled through inhospitable country, with their food diminishing, and growing weaker every day. Late in June Burke and Wills died, but incredibly King survived, kept alive by the kindness of Aboriginals until a relief expedition found him, half demented by starvation and loneliness, near to death himself.</p> <p>King was taken back to Melbourne and given a public welcome. A royal commission of inquiry revealed the wretched mismanagement of the whole expedition but King's evidence was treated considerately. He was presented with a gold watch and an investment which yielded him £180 a year. He lived quietly with his sister until on 22 August 1871 he married his widowed cousin Mary Richmond, née Bunting. He never recovered from his privations on the expedition and died of tuberculosis on 15 January 1872 at his home in St Kilda.</p> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Select Bibliography</h3> <ul> <li>A. M. Moorehead, <em>Cooper's Creek</em> (Lond, 1963)</li><li>Burke and Wills Commission, Evidence, <em>Votes and Proceedings</em> (Victoria), 1861-62, 3 (97).</li> </ul> </div> <div class="infoList"> <h3>Related Thematic Essay</h3> <ul> <li>Vashti Farrer, <a href="/essay/1">First Past the Post: The Melbourne Cup of 1861</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="citation"> <h3>Citation details</h3> <p>Alan Moorehead, 'King, John (1841–1872)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/king-john-3956/text6237, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 13 December 2024.</p> <p id="origPubDetails"><strong>This article was published in hardcopy in <em><strong>Australian Dictionary of Biography</strong></em>, Volume 5, (Melbourne University Press), 1974</strong></p> <p style="margin-top: 20px;">View the <a href="/frontpages/fp5.pdf" target="_blank">front pages</a> for Volume 5</p> </div> <div id="printFooter"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { Shadowbox.init({ counterType: 'skip', continuous: true, overlayOpacity: 0.80 }); }); </script> <div id="pageSidebar"> <div class="mainPic"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an22761712" title="John King (1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865"><img src="/uploads/adb/3956/thumbs/A050034_246x550.jpg" alt="John King (1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865" width='246' height='265' /></a> </div> <p class="caption"><span class="captionName">John King </span>(1841-1872), by De Gruchy & Leigh, c1865</p><p class="credit"><a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an22761712">National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an22761712</a></p> <div class="lifeSummary"> <h3>Life Summary <span><a href ="/lifesummary/king-john-3956" target="_blank">[details]</a></span></h3> <h5>Birth</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=05121841">5 December</a>, <a href="/biographies/birth/?bdate=1841">1841</a> <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22Tyrone%2C%20Ireland%22">Tyrone</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=birthLocation%3A%22Ireland%22">Ireland</a> </p> <h5>Death</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=15011872">15 January</a>, <a href="/biographies/death/?ddate=1872">1872</a> (aged 30) <br /> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22St%20Kilda%2C%20Melbourne%2C%20Victoria%2C%20Australia%22">St Kilda, Melbourne</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22Victoria%2C%20Australia%22">Victoria</a>, <a href="/biographies/search/?query=deathLocation%3A%22Australia%22">Australia</a> </p> <h5>Cause of Death</h5> <p> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=causeOfDeath%3A%22tuberculosis%22">tuberculosis</a> </p> <div class="life-summary__heading-container"> <h5 class="life-summary__heading--note">Cultural Heritage</h5> <button class="life-summary__note-button" title="View explanatory note" data-note-text-id="life-summary-cultural"> <img src="/images/down_arrow.png" class="life-summary__button-image"> </button> </div> <p class="life-summary__note-text" id="life-summary-cultural"> Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity. </p><ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/search/?query=ethnicity%3A%22Irish%22">Irish</a> </li> </ul> <h5> Occupation or Descriptor </h5> <ul> <li> <a href="/biographies/occupation/?occupation=explorer&rpp=200">explorer</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer> <div class="clearFix" id="footer"> <h3>Australian Dictionary of Biography</h3> <p>An initiative of the <a href="https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/ncb">National Centre of Biography</a> at the <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University</a></p> <div class="clearFix"> <p class="floatLeft">© Copyright Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2006-2024</p> <p class="floatLeft cdp"><a href="/copyright/">Copyright</a> · <a href="/disclaimer/">Disclaimer</a> · <a href="/privacy/">Privacy Policy</a> · <a href="/contact-us/">Contact Us</a></p> </div> </div> </footer> </body> </html>