James Wharton White (17 February 1857 – 30 January 1930), often referred to as "Wharton White", was an auctioneer, pastoralist and politician in colonial South Australia. He spent the latter half of his life in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He was born the eldest son of Abraham White (c. 1828 – 15 May 1885), farmer and railway contractor of "Illawarra", Bagot's Well, and his wife Mary, née Wharton, ( – c. 1931). His uncle James "Nobby" White (c. 1820–1890) was a pastoralist and noted politician. He was educated at James Hosking's Gouger Street Academy, and was four years with John McLaren in the auctioneering firm McLaren, White & Co. He ran a sheep station some north of Pinnaroo. In 1881 he was involved in a complex legal argument, which went as far as the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

in England, with John "Jack" Neaylon over ownership of the lease later known as Appatoongannie. White and his partner Thomas Neaylon (John's brother) lost. He represented the Assembly seat of

Light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...

from April 1890 to April 1896 as colleague of

Jenkin Coles Sir Jenkin Coles (19 January 1843 – 6 December 1911) was a South Australian politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1875 to 1878 and 1881 to 1911, representing the electorates of Light (1875–78, 1881–190 ...

. In 1894 he paid a six-month visit to the Western Australian goldfields, and at the Kurnalpie field near Coolgardie, staked a claim with one Mr. Thring, and was immediately rewarded with a useful haul of the precious metal, but found nothing at lower depths. On returning to South Australia, he purchased, with

Alexander Poynton Alexander Poynton Order of the British Empire, OBE (8 August 1853 – 9 January 1935) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, serving as Treasurer of Australia, Treasurer (1916–1917), Departm ...

and

James Henderson Howe James Henderson Howe (4 March 1839 – 5 February 1920), was a Scots-born mounted policeman, farmer and politician in South Australia. History Howe was born in Forfar, Forfarshire, Scotland, the son of James H. Howe and his wife Elizabeth, ''né ...

, from Frank Denford of Mount Serle Station, the lease to the "Angipena Treasure Mine", which had been fraudulently " salted". He left South Australia for Western Australia sometime before 1897, when he settled in Esperance. He was for a time employed as Rabbit Fence Inspector, and died in the Esperance Hospital.

Family

James Wharton White (17 February 1857 – 30 January 1930) married Sophie Agnes Geier in Kapunda. He married again, in Kalgoorlie, to Mary Gycer. Among their children were: *Arthur Wharton White (29 March 1886 – 21 July 1955) married Elise May Jones on 28 May 1914 in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

, WA. He was a fettler with the Western Australian railways *James Wharton White (c. 1899 – 14 December 1975) married Jessie Dalrymple Aitken (13 November 1913 – 28 July 1995) on 17 January 1931

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, James Wharton Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian auctioneers Australian pastoralists 1857 births 1930 deaths Colony of South Australia people