John George Winchester Wilmot (19 September 1830 – 3 August 1895) was a pioneering coffee planter in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and a surveyor in
Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. In the latter role, he named several Victorian places, including
Baddaginnie
Baddaginnie is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the North East railway line, in the Rural City of Benalla, 12 kilometres south-west of Benalla itself on the old Hume Highway. It is situated in mainly flat unforested country, on ...
,
Dimboola
Dimboola is a town in the Shire of Hindmarsh in the Wimmera region of western Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 334 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.
History
Situated on the Wimmera River, Dimboola was previously known as 'Nine Creek ...
,
Glenrowan, and
Winton.
Early life
The details of Wilmot's early life are obscure. His mother was Mary (or Maria) Winchester, and he said his father was Dr C E Wilmot. However, he may have been an illegitimate member of the Wilmot family, related to
Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton and
Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet
Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet (21 February 1783 – 3 February 1847) was a politician in the United Kingdom who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire and then as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land (lat ...
. He claimed to have been born in
Winton, Cumbria, but no evidence exists for this. Even his date of birth is uncertain.
He went to school in Boulogne, and ran away to sea in 1842.
Coffee planter
In 1844, Wilmot arrived in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, in the then
British Crown Colony of
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. He opened up plantations in
Kadugannawa
Kadugannawa is a town in Kandy District in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. It is located along the A1 road west of Peradeniya. The town is served by Kadugannawa Railway Station and ha ...
and
Kotmale
Kotmale ( si, කොත්මලේ, translit=Kotmalē; ta, கொத்மலை, translit=Kotmalai) is a village in Sri Lanka in Central Province. Kotmale forms part of a mountainous region that the Sinhalese kings left forested to generate su ...
, just below
Dimbula
Dimbula is a village located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. It is approximately east of Colombo, south of Kandy and west of Nuwara Eliya.
See also
*List of towns in Central Province, Sri Lanka
Central Province is a province of Sri Lanka ...
. Meanwhile, he learnt surveying, and worked as a contract surveyor.
Government surveyor
News of the
New South Wales gold rush caused Wilmot to go to Australia to find his fortune in 1852. However, after several months at the diggings, he gave up and departed for
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. There, he set himself up as a contract surveyor. In 1854, he joined the Surveyor General's department as an assistant surveyor, surveying the telegraph road from Melbourne to
Benalla.
["Death of Mr J. G. W. Wilmot", ''The Argus'', Melbourne, 5 August 1895] He then served as District Surveyor in Benalla,
Shepparton
Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...
1855,
Ararat,
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, and
Bairnsdale. He took part in the
cadastral survey
Cadastral surveying is the sub-field of cadastre and surveying that specialises in the establishment and re-establishment of real property boundaries. It involves the physical delineation of property boundaries and determination of dimensions, a ...
of Victoria, surveying
Borung
Borung is a locality in north central Victoria, Australia. The locality is in the Shire of Loddon, north west of the state capital, Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous ...
. A suggestion he made, together with
Alfred William Howitt
Alfred William Howitt , (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A.W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to es ...
in 1867 led to the survey of the eastern border between Victoria and New South Wales, the
Black-Allan Line. He left the service in 1868, and set up on his own.
Private practice
After retirement, Wilmot became an arbitrator, land agent and valuer. He served on the Royal Commission on Land Titles and Surveys in 1885.
Politics
A conservative, identifying strongly with
squatter
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
interests, Wilmot was mentioned as a possible candidate for
South Gippsland
South Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. Low granite hills continue into Wilsons Promonto ...
. He was active in overthrowing the government of
Sir Graham Berry in 1880. He wrote prolifically to the conservative ''
The Argus'', and was the "eminence gris" behind the ''
Melbourne Punch
''Melbourne Punch'' (from 1900, simply titled ''Punch'') was an Australian illustrated magazine founded by Edgar Ray and Frederick Sinnett, and published from August 1855 to December 1925. The magazine was modelled closely on ''Punch'' of Londo ...
''.
In 1894, although hitherto a supporter of
Sir Thomas Bent, revelations of Bent's corruption led him to throw his weight behind
William Moule. This ensured that Moule replaced Bent as
MLA for
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
. Wilmot was called a "prodigiously active Conservative wire-puller behind the political scenes."
Personal life
In 1867, he married Hannah Louisa Whittakers, the daughter of English-born squatters in Tubbut, north-east Gippsland. The couple had eight children, including
Reginald Wilmot
Reginald William Ernest Wilmot (4 October 1869 – 26 May 1949) was a leading sports journalist in Melbourne, Australia in the early 20th century, who used the ''nom de guerre'' of "Old Boy", and was well-respected for his writing on cricket and A ...
, the journalist and sports writer. Following his retirement from the government service, he settled in Brighton, purchasing "Boort Cottage" (which was demolished in the 1960s, being replaced by Rostrevor Hall of
Brighton Grammar School
, motto_translation = Let us keep pursuing better things
, city = Brighton
, state = Victoria
, zipcode = 3186
, country = Australia
, coordinates ...
).
Death
The end of the 1890s speculative boom led to a reversal of Wilmot's fortunes. In early 1895 he came down with a cold, which settled in his lungs. He died at his home in Brighton. His pallbearers included
James Service
James Service (27 November 1823 – 12 April 1899), Australian colonial politician, was the 12th Premier of Victoria, Australia.
Biography
Service was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of Robert Service. As a young man James wor ...
,
Richard Speight
Richard Speight (2 December 1838 – 19 September 1901) was an English-born commissioner of railways in the Australian state of Victoria, serving between 1883 and 1892. In his latter years, Speight was briefly a Member of the Western Australia ...
,
Thomas Prout Webb
Thomas Prout Webb (22 January 1845 – 22 November 1916) was an Australian barrister and judge.
Webb was the fourth son of Robert Saunders Webb, the first collector of customs at Port Phillip, by his wife Ann, daughter of Lieutenant Fisher, R.N. ...
and
Frederic Hughes.
Legacy
While surveying for the Victorian government, Wilmot named several places. Some of them bore
Sinhala names, including Baddaginnie (from ''badagini'', hungry),
Dookie (from ''duka'', sadness), Dimboola and Gampola (both names of towns in the highlands of Sri Lanka). He named the first five street of Shepparton (High St, Wyndham St, Fryers St, Welsford St and Vaughan St) in 1855. He apparently named Winton after his place of birth. He also named
Bessiebelle
Bessiebelle is a locality in western Victoria, Australia. The locality is in the Shire of Moyne local government area, in what is commonly known as the Western District. It sits approximately west of the state capital, Melbourne, on the Eume ...
, Dundonnell,
Dunneworthy, Glenrowan,
Mangalore
Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...
,
Miepoll
Miepoll is a locality in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia.
History
The place's name is derived from a local policeman's wife (My Poll).
In 1885, Miepoll consisted of Steven's Hotel, Store and Post Office, a blacksmith's shop ...
,
Willaura
Willaura is a town in western Victoria, Australia in the Rural City of Ararat local government area, west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Willaura and surrounding area had a population of 439.
According to tradition, the town's name i ...
and Helendoit.
In 2006, Wilmot's field notes, from his 1865 survey of the country lands of the Parish of
Bumberrah, were used to re-establish the boundaries of the crown allotment on the lakeshore of Tambo Bay,
Lake King
Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...
, much of the reservation having been inundated in the meantime.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmot, J. G. W.
Australian surveyors
1830 births
1895 deaths
British expatriates in Sri Lanka