John Gardiner (Australia)

John Gardiner (5 July 1798 - 16 November 1878) was a nineteenth century Australian banker and pastoralist.

Gardiner was born in Dublin, Ireland. At Colp, County Meath, on 9 September 1822 he married Mary Eagle. In October, accompanied by his wife, her parents and their three sons, he sailed for Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in the "Andromeda". He arrived in Hobart in May 1823 and was soon granted convert|800|acre|km2 near Ross, Tasmania.

In 1824, he accepted employment as a clerk with Bank of Van Diemen's Land. His only child, Anna Maria, was born in Hobart in July 1827. During March 1828, he left the bank to become a successful store-keeper in the Macquarie River district. In March 1834, he rented convert|5250|acre|km2 at Lovely Banks.

In 1835, Gardiner, lost his tenancy and sailed for Sydney. He looked for land about Yass but was discouraged by the severe drought. In 1836, he returned to Van Diemen's Land, visited the then year old Port Phillip settlement and thence to Sydney. He bought 300 cattle from Joseph Hawdon, and with him and John Hepburn drove them overland to Gardiners Creek, near Melbourne. Because of this journey, the first with stock, Gardiner is often called an 'Overlander'. Leaving his cattle and men at Gardiner's Creek he returned immediately to Sydney and arranged to send 200 more cattle to Port Phillip.

In 1837, he sailed with his wife and daughter to Port Phillip in the "Regia", built a house at Gardiners Creek, bought at Melbourne's first land sale a corner lot at Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets for £22, and established a cattle station of convert|15000|acre|km2 at Mooroolbark, where he was joined by his brother David and his cousin William Fletcher. In the same year, he became the first president of a new Temperance Society, and his home was used for a meeting which formed a committee to build Melbourne's first Independent Church. In 1839, he presided at the formation and became a director of the Melbourne Fire and Marine Insurance Co. and a local director of the Melbourne branch of the Union Bank. Later, he resigned from the Union Bank, was appointed manager of the Port Phillip Bank, sold his Gardiners Creek property and built a home in Bourke Street, Melbourne. In March 1841, he was sent to London where he tried, without success, to raise fresh capital for the Port Phillip Bank and served on the committee for political separation of the Port Phillip District from New South Wales.

In September 1842, he returned to find Melbourne in financial crisis; he left the bank and returned to England, where he retired to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. In March 1863, his wife, who had stayed in Melbourne with her daughter, died. Three months later, Gardiner married his cousin Sarah Fletcher. He died on 16 November 1878 at Leamington Spa.

References

*A. S. Kenyon, ‘The Overlanders’, Victorian Historical Magazine, 10 (1924-25)
*Leslie J. Wilmoth, ' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010391b.htm Gardiner, John (1798 - 1878] )', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, p. 425.