A journalist, poet, illustrator, draftsman and lithographer, Whitelock was born in London but emigrated to Australia early in his life. He was educated in Sydney, where in 1882 he married Maria Frederica Helena Eichler. Known for his strong social conscience, in 1885 Whitelocke published a volume of sketches depicting scenes of poverty entilted A Walk in Sydney Streets : On the Shady Side - according to the title page this was 'Drawn Lithographed and Published' by Whitelocke himself. Besides the drafting work that was perhaps his main occupation at this time (several maps of the Sydney area from this time bear Whitelocke's name), he is also known to have contributed poetry to The Sydney Mail from around the mid 1880s.
By the early 1890s, Whitelocke was in Bathurst as editor of The National Advocate, and in 1895 he published a political pamphlet - Our Turbulent Democracy : A Protest - with the imprint 'Printed at the "National Advocate" Office'. Whitelocke was also at one stage in Broken Hill as the editor of The Barrier Miner, but the period and duration of his tenure there is uncertain. He was a long time contributor to The Sydney Mail, among other periodicals, and on his death The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that 'during the latter part of [the nineteenth century] he was one of the best known journalists in New South Wales.' (4 January 1928, p.10)
