King, John Henry (1865 - 1957)

Born at Nambrok, Gippsland, Vic., on 14 October 1865 and died at Bairnsdale, Vic., in January 1957.  

John Henry King was a close friend of A. W. Howitt and was associated with him in the collection of Gippsland eucalypts.  King lived at Metung for a long period and two of the types were collected there; he operated a sawmill at Sealers Cove in the early years of the century and it was there, in 1905 and 1906, that the type of Eucalyptus obliqua var. discocarpa was collected jointly by King and Howitt.  After spending his earlier life as a grazier, with an interest in sawmilling, he became an estate agent in Melbourne in his later working life. During his last years he again lived at Metung, which is on the coast about 25 km south of Bairnsdale. 

The great grandfather of J. H. King was Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), better known an Governor King of New South Wales (1800 - 06).  A son of Governor King was Phillip Parker King (1791-1856), who surveyed much of the coast of Australia and in 1817-18 circumnavigated the continent with Allan Cunningham.