John Hunter Kerr

Who was John Hunter Kerr?

John Hunter Kerr was a Scottish-born grazier, amateur photographer and collector of Indigenous artefacts in Victoria, Australia, during the mid-nineteenth century. He was the fourth son of Captain A R. Kerr, R.N., C B, and brother of Vice-Admiral R. Kerr.

Kerr was born in 1821 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was great-nephew of the past New South Wales Governor, Admiral John Hunter. Kerr arrived in the Port Phillip District in 1839 at the age of 18 aboard the ship the Midlothian and initially took up land near Heidelberg near Melbourne, Victoria.

He returned to Britain in 1841, but remigrated in 1849, purchasing the 'Edgars Plains' pastoral lease of 89,000 acres, north west of Bendigo near Boort, in the Loddon District, Victoria and renamed it 'Fernyhurst'. Initially, with his partner Godfrey, he sold meat to the diggers on the Korong goldfields, and gained some success. In January 1851 he had won a gold medal for 'the best colonial thoroughbred' in an exhibition organised by the Victorian Industrial Society. and he was appointed a magistrate in 1854.

However, 'Bad seasons and adverse circumstances' including the 'dissipation' of his partner caused him to have to sell 'Fernyhurst' in 1855, but he stayed on the property, possibly acting as manager, until 1861, the same year that he married Frances Murphy.