John Riddoch (27 October 1827 – 15 July 1901) was a pastoralist and politician in the State of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, brother and business partner of

George Riddoch George Riddoch (10 August 1842 – 23 April 1919) was an Australian pastoralist and politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1893 to 1896, representing Victoria, and a member of the South Australian Legislative ...

History

Riddoch was born at

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived fr ...

, in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, Scotland, and arrived in Victoria with his parents and family in 1851, settling in Newtown,

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. He left for the Ovens River goldfields and was quite successful. He returned to Geelong and set himself up as a storekeeper and wine merchant. In 1861 he purchased Yallum Park Estate, a sheep and cattle station near Penola.Leith G. MacGillivray
'Riddoch, John (1827–1901)'
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 25 October 2014 He founded the Coonawarra fruit colony there, and built a grand residence; he was noted for his hospitality. In partnership with his brother, he bought up extensive tracts of land in the South-East of South Australia; by 1891 they owned of pasture and farmland. Their greatest asset, Glencoe station, founded by

Robert Leake Robert Leake (1824 – 1 May 1901) was a British Liberal politician. Leake was the eldest son of Robert Leake of Manchester and Mary Lockett of Salford, Lancashire. After a private education he became head of Lockett, Leake and Company, engraver ...

and his brother Edward, covered , and carried 53,000 sheep, 3,500 cattle and 300 horses and featured a magnificent woolshed now held by the National Trust. When the Riddoch brothers dissolved their partnership in 1898, John took the southern end and broke it up for closer settlement; George named his portion "Koorine".

Politics

John was elected to the district of Victoria in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

, and served from March 1865 to April 1870 with Adam Lindsay Gordon followed by

James Umpherston James Umpherston (1812 – 28 October 1900) was a farmer and politician, a noted settler of Mount Gambier, South Australia. Umpherston was born in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and worked as a farmer until he emigrated to South Australia on ...

then

Henry Kent Hughes Henry Kent Hughes (c. 1814 – 30 August 1880), usually referred to as H. Kent Hughes, was a pastoralist and politician who sat in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1868 to 1875 representing the seats of Victoria and later, Port A ...

as colleagues, and from December 1871 to April 1873 with Edwin Derrington. His brother George followed him as a member of the House of Assembly for the District of Victoria in 1893, and served a three-year term. In 1901 he was returned to the Legislative Council as a representative of the Southern District, and retired at the end of 1909.

Other interests

He was a good friend of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon, who was a frequent guest at Yallum, and there wrote arguably his most famous poem ''

The Sick Stockrider ''The Sick Stockrider'' is a 1913 film directed by W. J. Lincoln based on the 1870 poem of the same title by Adam Lindsay Gordon. It was the first production from Lincoln-Cass Films and is one of the few Australian silent films to survive in it ...

''. John and his brother were members of the Adelaide Club. He was the first chairman of the Penola District Council and a great supporter of the Penola Agricultural and Horticultural Society. He was an elder of the local Presbyterian Church. He endowed the Mount Gambier Art Gallery, and presented them with his portrait, painted by

Tennyson Cole Philip Tennyson Cole (30 May 1862 – 2 September 1939), generally known as Tennyson Cole, was an English society portrait painter in both oils and watercolours, who first achieved fame in Australasia and South Africa. Biography Cole was born i ...

Family

He married Eliza or Elizabeth King ( – 2 October 1881) on 12 May 1854; he was survived by a son, John Alexander Riddoch of Katnook, and three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddoch, John Australian pastoralists Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 1827 births 1901 deaths Adelaide Club 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Australian businesspeople Members of the South Australian Legislative Council