JOHN WRATHALL BULL
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I thought perhaps some people may be interested to know more about John
Wrathall Bull. He certainly led a fascinating life, and I very much
enjoyed reading the book that he wrote - Early Experiences of Life in
South Australia (first printed Adelaide 1878, second London 1884). It is
difficult to summarise without writing a story, which is actually what
someone is doing. Mrs. Dawn Davis (daughter of Edwin Wrathall Bull) is
writing a book about him. John Wrathall Bull is named as one of South
Australia's pioneers, arriving here in 1838, 2 years after colonisation.
He was good friends with the colony's first treasurer, Mr. Osmond
Gilles, who expressed to J.W. his annoyance at not finding a good
section of land, and rode out to JW's land at what is now Glen Osmond,
and persuaded J.W. to transfer the land to him.
John Wrathall Bull is always described as a man of very honourable and
decent character, who always paid debts even when in considerable
hardship to himself, and always helped others. His occupation was mainly
as a farmer, but he was also employed as an Estate Manager to Osmond
Gilles, and a wine merchant, and he also established the Woodley Winery
at Glen Osmond. He unfortunately had some hard times in his life, but
was involved in some extraordinary experiences and was well respected by
many.
Some people may have heard about a reaping machine called The Stripper,
invention of which has been credited to a Mr John Ridley. For many many
years the debate over its true inventor has raged on and most of the
documents and letters which I have seen prove beyond reasonable doubt
that the invention was actually John Wrathall Bull's. He came up with
his idea for the machine on his farm in Mount Barker, in the Adelaide
Hills, in 1842. He exhibited a working model of the invention to the
Corn Exchange Committee, where he donated it for the good of the colony
(he did not have the means to patent or produce it). Mr. Ridley was
present at the meeting and produced his machine, adopting the same
principles as Bull's, sometime later. Unfortunately, Ridley never
acknowledged where his idea originated and the credit was given to him.
J.W. Bull received 250 pounds for improvements to agriculture. This saga
will be documented fully in the book by Dawn Davis.
John Wrathall Bull's brother George was a surgeon who lived in the
Moonta Mines in South Australia, and Victoria. His death was due to
suicide, as was that of their brother Joseph, a chemist, who took
poison. Joseph seems to have been the black sheep of the family, as the
family letters in the State Library Archives seem to show. He received
some very interesting letters from the family back home in England! The
other to come to Australia was Lucy, whose husband was considerably
older and had many children of his own to his first wife. Lucy was at
first a governess to his children.
John Wrathall Bull's eldest son, John Bowyer Bull, was an explorer for
some of his life. His diary and life memoirs are in the State Archives
(there is a large file on the Bulls). He too was an interesting
character, absconding from home as a teenager after being caught by his
father playing "pitch and toss". J.B. married twice, three children from
his first marriage to Margaret Carey, and 10 from second marriage to
Annie Payne. My ancestor is his son Alfred Clarence Bull (2nd marriage).
Alfred had 2 children, one of them my maternal Grandmother Mona Zoe
Bull, and the other, John Bartlett Bull, was a flying officer in the RAF
during WW2 and his surname features in the Dam Busters book.
I have a lot of literature on the family and even some photos (I wish I
could show you all!). Maybe when I finally purchase a scanner I can put
them on here. My work on this family (and all my families) began around
1991 as a final year high school project and has indeed become something
very big! I have been fortunate to have made contact with so many
helpful people also.
Kelly Jane Sullivan
April 02, 1999