John Cotton

Who was John Cotton?

John Cotton was a British poet, ornithological writer and artist, who became an early pastoral settler in Victoria, Australia.

Cotton was born in Balham, London and educated in Richmond. Afterwards he was articled to a firm of solicitors at Lincoln’s Inn for a time, before focusing his interest on art and ornithology. In 1829 he became a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London. In 1835 he published privately The Resident Song Birds of Great Britain, with 17 colour plates and descriptive text, as well as The Song Birds of Great Britain, with 16 pages in colour.

In 1843 Cotton migrated with his family to the Port Phillip District of New South Wales in Australia, now better known as the state of Victoria. Following his arrival in Melbourne he leased from the government two pastoral properties on the Goulburn River where he farmed sheep. In 1847 Susanna gave birth to their tenth child and sixth daughter.

From 1844 Cotton was preparing sketches for a book to be named Birds of Port Phillip, as well as accumulating a collection of bird skins.