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Was born probably about the
end of the eighteenth century, left Scotland in 1826 as a free settler
possessed of capital, and arrived in Sydney early in 1827. He went into
business as a merchant, and in 1828 received a grant of 2000 acres of land
at Irrawang in the northern part of the colony, which became his chief
interest. In 1831 he discovered some sand near Sydney suitable for
glass-making, samples of which were sent to England and found to be of
fine quality. In January 1832 he asked that he might be rewarded for his
discovery by a grant of 50 acres of land near Sydndy, part of the present
site of the university. This was refused, but the English authorities
suggested that he should be allowed the sum of £100 off the price of any
land he might purchase from the state. King was much dissatisfied, and six
years later was still endeavouring to have his claim better recognized. He
had no success though he was able to mention that the Society of Arts in
London had awarded him its silver medal, and that he had a fresh claim on
account of his having established a pottery in the colony. He was,
however, in prosperous circumstances; he stated in his memorial that he
had capital "to the amount of not less than £7000" in addition to valuable
landed property in various parts of the colony. He had done much
experimenting in vine growing and in making wine, and he continued to do
this for many years, producing several varieties of wine of high quality.
In 1850 he was awarded gold medals by the Horticultural Society of Sydney
for a light sparkling wine and for a white wine, and at the Paris
exhibition of 1855 his wines were highly commended and awarded a medal. He
left Australia in 1855 on a two years' visit to Europe and in 1857
published privately a pamphlet Australia may be an Extensive
Wine-growing Country. He was then in bad health and probably died not
very long after, but the date of his death is not known. He left a widow
who afterwards married William Roberts of Penrith, who by his will left
£4000 to the university of Sydney for the foundation of scholarships in
memory of King. This fund has increased to nearly £6000 and the James King
of Irrawang travelling scholarships, now of £250 a year for two years,
have been of great use to many distinguished scholars of the university.
King was an enterprising
man who came to Australia when the value of immigrants with capital first
began to be recognized. He was too busy a man to try to develop a glass
industry, but he was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, to make
pottery. Many men had made wine in Australia before he started to do so,
but his attention to the question of quality made his work of great value
in the early days of this industry. |
