White, Henry Luke   (1860 - 1927)

Born at 'Anambah', c.10 km northwest of Maitland, NSW, on 9 May 1860; died at 'Belltrees' on the Hunter River, c.30 km ENE of Scone, NSW, on 30 May 1927.

Born on a grazing property near Maitland, NSW, he first attended Calder House boys' school, Redfern (Sydney) and in 1875 he went to Samuel H. Belcher's private Garroorigang Grammar School at Goulburn, NSW.

He qualified as a surveyor in 1884.

The next year he managed one of the White's pastoral properties 'Beltrees' c. 30 km ENE of Scone, NSW, then became one of the partners in the firm of H.E.A. and V. White, which was established in 1888. He continued as managing partner in the firm until his death in 1927.

He married Louisa Maude Ebsworth at Waverley (Sydney), on 14 April 1887 and they had three children.

He died at 'Beltrees' on 30 May 1927 and his estate was sworn for probate at 185,360 pounds.

He shunned notoriety and was reluctant to attend public functions and preferred to 'remain in the confines of his office', His contemporaries describe him as a generous and fair man but a stickler for promptness - woe betide anyone who was not on time.

His interests extended to polo and cricket and he was community-minded, financialy supporting the war effort during 1914-1918, the Church of England, Scone Hospital and schools, and the Liberal and Reform Association.

He was to amass one of the largest private bird study-skin collections (8546) and bird egg collections (over 4799 egg clutches of some 700 species) of the time.

He was later to become a fellow of the Royal Philatelc Society after resuming, in 1897, his boyhood interest in stamp-collecting.

In addition, he collected books and the Belltrees' ibrary housed in the region of 2,500 rare items, many representing his two fields of interest, ornithology and philately.

But he was also a generous benefactor and before his death had donated most of his collections to public institutions.

Source: Extracted from book: 'Passions in Ornithology: A century of Australian Egg Collectors' (2020), Mason & Pfitzner, Canberra. [consult for source references]
Portrait Photo: NLA Picture collection (vn3799195-v) extracted from book above.

Plant collecting localities for 'White, H.L.' from AVH (2022)

Data from 139 specimens