John Alexander Gunn (11 February 1860 – 21 September 1910) was an Australian pioneer scientist and politician. He was born at

Buninyong Buninyong is a town 11 km from Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Midland Highway, south of Ballarat on the road to Geelong. Buninyong was proclaimed a town on 27 June 1851 on the same day as Winchelsea, Portarlington, L ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to farmer Donald Gunn and Jane Surman. Donald migrated to Australia from Brawlbin, Caithness, Scotland in 1854 and married Jane Surman in 1859 at Buninyong. They had ten children - the oldest was John. He married Jessie Maria Turner, with whom he had four children. Around 1878 John moved to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, becoming a pastoralist around

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

. In October 1898 the Gunn family, Beatrice and Sydney Webb had lunch at Borombola, a farm on the Murrumbidgee near Wagga Wagga, managed (and later owned) by John. Beatrice Webb described him so - 'Our host proved to be an unusually interesting man. Australian born, of Scotch extraction, a successful manager of stations in various districts in New South Wales, he had devoted his leisure to a scientific investigation of Anthrax and had invented and patented a vaccine named after him - the Gunn vaccine ... He was delighted to show us over his laboratory and glad enough to find someone interested in his hobby. He was a thorough-going individualist, objecting altogether to Government regulation and the necessity of taking out a licence for his experimental work - a fine fellow for all that - hard working and upright, with that interesting combination of speculative intelligence and a keen commercial instinct ... For the rest he was a materialist in metaphysic, a reactionary in politics, and an autocrat in the home.'Page 59, ed. A. G. Austin, 'The Webbs' Australian Diary 1898' Melbourne, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1965. John worked with

John McGarvie Smith John McGarvie Smith (8 February 1844 – 6 September 1918) was an Australian metallurgist, bacteriologist and benefactor. Biography Smith was born in Sydney, the eldest surviving of thirteen children of Scots parents David Milne Smith, tailo ...

to improve his

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

vaccination and was also involved in

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

control. From 1906 to 1910 he served on Kyemba Shire Council, serving as president in 1906 and from 1909 to 1910. He was also a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

from 1908 until his death in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1910.

References

1860 births 1910 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council People from Buninyong Colony of Victoria people {{Australia-politician-stub