John Rounsevell (c. 1836 – 15 May 1902) was a pastoralist and politician in the British colony 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 ...

. His brother William Benjamin "Ben" Rounsevell was also a South Australian politician.

History

John Rounsevell was born in Landunna, in

Altarnun Altarnun ( ; kw, Alternonn) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is located west of Launceston on the north-eastern edge of Bodmin Moor at . The parish of Altarnun includes the village of Fivelanes and the ha ...

, Cornwall, and came out to South Australia with his parents

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Grace Rounsevell in the ''

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of South ...

'' arriving on 6 July 1839. He was educated at St. Peter's College, then started working for his father's livery stable and mail coach business, becoming a partner with responsibility for operations north of

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

. He became an expert horseman and a foremost exponent of the whip. He retired from "the road" when the company was sold to Cobb and Co. He managed his father's property Corryton Park (which he later inherited) near Mount Crawford and turned his attention to filling Government contracts. He supplied sleepers for railway work and supervised construction of the 500-mile (800 km) section of the Adelaide to Darwin telegraph line north from

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

, and supplied a great number of its telegraph poles as well as large numbers of horses, bullocks and camels for the project. In 1864, he acquired pastoral land near the Warburton Range and the surrounding areas to the north-east and south-east. He also established the

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

on Rounsevell Hill, located to the north-west. Additionally, he named Gibraltar, a notable granite outcrop in the region, and Sturt's Rock, which was named after the abundance of Sturt peas found nearby. He turned his attention to sheepfarming, at Corryton Park, successfully breeding stud sheep, while his wool clips had a good reputation both in South Australia and in London.

Politics

In 1865 John Rounsevell was elected as a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

for the district of Light, but he retired two years later. Subsequently he was elected for the district of

Gumeracha Gumeracha ( ) is a town in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, located on the Adelaide-Mannum Road. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area on the south bank of the upper River Torrens. At the 2006 census, Gumeracha ...

, serving from 1865 to 1868 and again from 1880 until 1881. He served in the Adelaide City Council. His residence "Landunna" at 111

Hutt Street Hutt Street is the easternmost of the five major north–south roads running through the City of Adelaide. It runs from Pirie Street to South Terrace, from where it continues south as Hutt Road. Flanked by leafy side streets with many late 19th ...

(

Angas Street Angas Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map
of the

HMS ''Buffalo'', the ship which brought

Governor Hindmarsh Rear-Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh KH (baptised 22 May 1785 – 29 July 1860) was a naval officer and the first Governor of South Australia, from 28 December 1836 to 16 July 1838. Family His grandfather William Hindmarsh was a gardener in Con ...

to South Australia.

Family

He was married four times: to Emma Hart (c. 1841 – 2 July 1876) on 4 February 1857, Eliza Hart (c. 1842 – 5 August 1881) on 29 September 1877, Elizabeth Jane Coombs (1856 – 1 December 1886) on 3 December 1881, and Sarah Coombs (1859 – c. 1932) (sister of Elizabeth) on 13 June 1887. Their children included: *Emma Adelaide Rounsevell (25 March 1859 – 13 September 1863) born Kapunda *(John) William Henry Rounsevell (1860 – 9 April 1893) *Emma (Eliza) Victoria Rounsevell ( – 8 July 1929) married Augustus Samuel Beaumont (April 1847 – 24 March 1931) on 5 March 1879 *Florence Victoria Maria Rounsevell (1865 – 23 April 1950) married solicitor Thomas Gepp (c. 1809 – 17 November 1894) on 25 October 1884. *Horace Vernon Rounsevell (20 March 1867 – c. 8 May 1919) married Clara Rachel Coombs (1866–1937) on 8 June 1912. He was a partner in the firm of Symon, Rounsevell, & Cleland. *Ruby Rounsevell (17 February 1883 – 1965) married (Walter) Charles Wurm (later Weston) (1872–) on 12 November 1910 *Harold Rounsevell (4 February 1885 – 1893) *Reginald Rounsevell (1886–1945) was on the staff of the

Bank of Australasia The Bank of Australasia was an Australian bank in operation from 1835 to 1951. Headquartered in London, the bank was incorporated by Royal Charter in March 1834. It had initially been planned to additionally include first South Africa and then ...

*Benjamin Corryton Rounsevell (1889–1933) *Clara Myrtle Rounsevell (1895–1971) *John Corryton Rounsevell (1897–1968)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rounsevell, John Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 1836 births 1902 deaths 19th-century Australian politicians People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide English emigrants to colonial Australia Australian people of Cornish descent Politicians from Adelaide Australian pastoralists