William Whinham (1842–1925) was an Australian businessman and politician. Around 1876 he founded the township, later suburb, of

Ovingham Ovingham is a civil parish and village in the Tyne Valley of south Northumberland, England. It lies on the River Tyne east of Hexham with neighbours Prudhoe, Ovington, Wylam and Stocksfield. The River Tyne provided an obstacle between Ovi ...

. He purchased Benara station, near

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

, around 1874 and sold it to Captain R. Gardiner six years later at a substantial profit. He was elected to 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 ...

seat of

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 ...

made vacant by the resignation of

George Charles Hawker Sir George Charles Hawker (21 September 1818 – 21 May 1895) was a South Australian settler and politician. Early life Hawker was born in London, the second son of Admiral Edward Hawker and his first wife, Joanna Naomi, ''née'' Poore. He was ...

in June 1883. He was not a candidate for the general election in 1884. In 1883, he and W. McEllister embarked on an ambitious speculation in the wheat market. They offered farmers 10s. per acre advance on half the farmer's wheat crop. This amounted to some £16,500 on 33,000 acres. Anticipating cornering the market, they purchased 5000 bales of wheat bags and chartered 20 or 30 clipper ships to carry the harvest to Europe and employed 44 inspectors to assess the qualifying farms. The outcome, rather than a profit, was a loss of some £14,000. With the death of his brother Robert in 1884, William Whinham assumed management of the

North Adelaide Grammar School North Adelaide Grammar School, later Whinham College was a private school operated in North Adelaide, South Australia by John Whinham (3 August 1803 – 13 March 1886) and his family. History John Whinham The founder of the school was born at Sh ...

, but after a few years returned to his business interests. He lived a very secluded life in later years; he had married late in life and his wife predeceased him by about twelve years. He had a hip injury which meant he could only get about with the aid of crutches.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whinham, William 1842 births 1925 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly