John Baker, the 'king of Morialta', controversial conservative pastoral lease beneficiary of early South Australia
John Baker's Morialta home from 1847 at Norton Summit in the Adelaide foothills, with vines and orchards.
The “king of Morialta”, John Baker, South Australian pastoralist and its second premier (1857), was a controversial conservative fighter for the interests of the colony’s wealthy.
Born in 1813 at Ilminster, Somerset, England, Baker was well educated and went at 25 to Van Diemen's Land. In Launceston, he linked with John Alexander Eddie, a merchant who overreached himself in 1838. They were sustained by “rich man” George Allan. Baker married Allan's daughter, Isabella, becoming related to Captain William Langdon who knew his family in Somerset and probably persuaded him to migrate.
After visiting Adelaide briefly, Baker returned to settle in 1839. He arranged with the South Australian Company to share in importing many sheep from Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) in its ships. By 1840, Baker’s horses, cattle and 4,000 sheep were grazing widely, cared for by shepherds, and he was chairman of Adelaide Auction Company. In 1843, with Jacob Hagen and John Hart, Baker took over John Hack’s whaling station at Encounter Bay, south of Adelaide. They sold it in 1846 when profits declined.
In 1845, Baker was appointed a local director of the Bank of Australasia and, in the copper boom, was a director of Adelaide Mining Company that made fair profits from the Montacute mine in the Adelaide Hills. In 1850, he became a justice of the peace and special magistrate, a director of the savings bank and a founder and first chairman of the chamber of commerce.
His interests became increasingly pastoral. He shared in forming a company to import cart horses from England and helped to promote improved livestock, especially horses for racing and for Indian army remounts. He also supported exploring the South Australian colony and took up many leases in new-found country.
Baker was a successful and, at times, mean-spirited pastoralist with major properties at Narrung-Lake Albert station and Terlinga near Tungkillo. Both these huge leaseholds were from around 1842. On Terlinga, he started an early dairy herd in 1842 that ate out the native kangaroo grass. With grass gone in the 1850s, the dairy, producing cheese for Adelaide, was closed and became a sheep property.
By 1860, Baker held 2,000 square miles, with runs from Streaky Bay to Mount Hopeless and into New South Wales. On most, he sank wells and made other improvements. He sold many leases and, about 1863, bought Terlinga as his head station, paying 23 shillings a head for 8,000 sheep with the run included. He then held 500 square miles and 16,000 sheep, 10,000 cattle and ample horses for his 100 stockmen. In 1864-65, severe drought cut his stock by two thirds but his runs were revalued and, with lower rents, he continued as a leading pastoralist.
Baker also took up 2,000 acres at Norton Summit in the Adelaide foothills where he built two-storey Morialta House of 17 main rooms with an attic floor for servants in 1847. With views of St Vincent Gulf and Morialta waterfalls, the house unusually had a flat roof. It also had cellars and a cedar staircase in the entrance.
Baker was a proud pioneer of South Australia as “the best spot on the face of the globe”. His intellect, firmness and energy was said to stimulate both radicals and conservatives. But, as Master of the Adelaide Hounds, his interests were mainly in recreating established English traditions. He helped select the Adelaide Botanic Garden site and served as a trustee. He was Agricultural and Horticultural Society president three times and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London.
In 1854 he helped to form a company of mounted rifles and became lieutenant colonel in the volunteer force. He was a generous supporter of the Church of England, school and mechanics’ institute. His racing stud bred successful sires such as Abdel-Kader and Jupiter. He remained active in politics and managed his properties until his last illness in 1872.
