Cirrus@Austlit

Following his father's trade, John Whiteman worked as a blacksmith in Dunchurch before moving to London where he was assistant to a veterinary surgeon. He migrated to Sydney in the early 1850s and arrived in Melbourne in 1852, heading for the Ovens gold rush. By 1856 he was working as a farrier in Geelong then moved to Emerald Hill where he worked as an auctioneer and and was a licensee of the Clarence Hotel. Whiteman was elected to the Emerald Hill Council in 1862, beginning a political career that included terms as mayor and MLA. Whiteman was also known as a poet and published a selection of his verse in Sparks and Sounds from a Colonial Anvil (1873). Whiteman Street in South Melbourne is named after him.