John Wrathall Bull


John Wrathall Bull was a settler, inventor and author in the early days of colonial South Australia.

History

Early Life and Emigration

Born in St Paul's Cray, Kent, England, Bull 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, Bull arrived in Adelaide aboard Canton with his wife and two infant sons. He acted as an agent for absentee landholders in South Australia and farmed in the Mount Barker and Rapid Bay districts. In 1852, he visited the Victorian goldfields but returned to South Australia the following year.

Invention

Bull was known for his creation of the agricultural stripping machine which he developed but was controversially beaten to the title of the inventor by John Ridley. The controversy was 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 recognition 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.

Military Service

Also involved in South Australia's colonial militia, Bull was made lieutenant in command of the companies at Mitcham and Glen Osmond.

Authorship

Bull's major contribution to the history of colonial South Australia was the publication of his Early Experiences of Colonial Life in South Australia, a series of more-or-less coherent reminiscences originally published in serial form over eight months in The South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, the earliest installments having first appeared in the associated daily The Advertiser.
Revised and enlarged with more of the same, the work was republished in Adelaide and London in 1884.

Death

Bull died at College Park on 21 September 1886 and was survived by two of his ten children.

Family

Three children of Rev. J. Bull of Northamptonshire emigrated to South Australia aboard Canton, arriving in May 1838: