John King (explorer)
| John King | |
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John King
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| Born |
5 December 1838 Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland |
| Died | 15 January 1872 (aged 33) St Kilda, Victoria, Australia |
| Cause of death | Pulmonary Tuberculosis |
| Burial place | Melbourne General Cemetery |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Alma mater | Royal Hibernian Military School |
| Occupation | Soldier, camel handler, explorer |
| Known for | Survivor of the Burke and Wills expedition and first European to cross Australia from north to south. |
| Parent(s) | Henry King and Ellen Orn |
John King (15 December 1838 – 15 January 1872) was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from Melbourne in Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland.
He was born at Moy in County Tyrone, Ireland on 15 December 1838 to Henry King (d.1839) and Ellen Orn (d. September 1847). King was the youngest of four siblings;
John King was educated at the Royal Hibernian Military School at Phoenix Park in Dublin between 1847 and 1853, before joining the 70th Regiment on 15 January 1853 at the age of 14. King was sent to Chatham and then posted to India, where the Regiment had been stationed since 1848.
King arrived in India on either 28 September or 29 October 1853. The regiment, under Colonel Galway and then Colonel Chute, was stationed in Cawnpore in the Northern Province. King worked as an assistant teacher in the Regimental School. He was later stationed in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province where he was involved in some of the principal engagements during the Indian Mutiny. He suffered a severe illness and spent sixteen months convalescing in the Rawalpindi District, probably at Murree.
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