John Wrathall Bull

Who was John Wrathall Bull?

John Wrathall Bull was an early settler, inventor and colonial author of South Australia.

Born in St. Paul's Cray, Kent, England, he was a dairy farmer in Cheshire and Bedfordshire, before applying as a farmer and shepherd for free passage to the new colony of South Australia. In May 1838, he arrived in Adelaide on the Canton with his wife and two infant sons. He acted as an agent for absentee landholders in South Australia, as well as taking up farming in the Mount Barker and Rapid Bay districts. In 1852, he visited the Victorian goldfields, but returned to South Australia the following year.

Bull was known for his creation of an agricultural stripping machine which he developed but was controversially beaten to the title of inventor by John Ridley. The controversy was again revived in 1875, when the University of Adelaide proposed to establish a 'Ridley' chair of agriculture. Bull successful petitioned parliament in 1880 for a grant of recogniton of his invention and after a long inquiry, was given £250 in 1882 'for services in improving agricultural machinery'. Later research has supported Ridley's claim.