John Hunter Kerr

John Hunter Kerr
Born	1820 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	6 February 1874 Melbourne, Australia
Occupation(s)	Pastoralist, amateur photographer, art collector
Known for	Collecting Indigenous artefacts and photographic portraits of Aboriginal communities in Victoria, Australia
Notable work	Glimpses of Life in Victoria by a Resident (1872)

John Hunter Kerr (1820–1874) was a Scottish-born pastoralist, amateur photographer, and collector of Indigenous artefacts in Victoria, Australia during the mid-1800s. He was the fourth son of Captain A. R. Kerr, R.N., C.B., and sibling to Vice-Admiral R. Kerr.

Early life

Born in 1820 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Kerr was a great-nephew of Admiral John Hunter, former Governor of New South Wales. At the age of 18, he arrived in the Port Phillip District aboard the Midlothian in 1839 and initially settled on land near Heidelberg, close to Melbourne.

Victoria estate

After a return trip to Britain in 1841, Kerr came back to Australia in 1849 and acquired the 'Edgars Plains' pastoral lease covering 89,000 acres northwest of Bendigo, near Boort, Victoria. He renamed this property 'Fernyhurst' (occasionally spelled 'Fernihurst'). Initially partnering with Godfrey, Kerr supplied meat to miners working on the Korong goldfields and experienced some commercial success. In January 1851, he was awarded a gold medal by the Victorian Industrial Society for 'the best colonial thoroughbred'. Appointed as a magistrate in 1854, Kerr encountered difficulties including poor seasons and issues with his partner’s conduct, which led to selling 'Fernyhurst' in 1855. Nevertheless, he stayed on the estate—possibly managing it—until 1861, the year he wed Frances Murphy.

Aboriginal ethnographic collection

Kerr was also an artist and photographer who dedicated himself to recording images of local Aboriginal communities with whom he maintained amicable relations. Among his works was a portrait of 'Queen Jerrybung' (also known as 'Jellibung'), an elderly tribal matriarch; this portrait was later reproduced as a lithograph for display at the Victorian Society of Fine Arts Exhibition in 1857. His major contributions to Aboriginal ethnography include photographic portraits of men, women, and children from the Loddon and Murray Tribes, likely representing the Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta people. Additionally, he assembled a collection of artefacts sourced from these groups. This assemblage comprised weapons, hunting implements, garments, toys, and unfinished items such as a possum skin cloak and stretched animal skins. Among notable objects were an emu skin, play sticks, and women’s woven crafts made from native grasses by lubras, including a bag fashioned from kangaroo rat skin.

Three ceremonial objects stood out: emu feathers and kangaroo rat skins used during corroborees, alongside a large curved bark piece shaped like an emu adorned with white ochre lines, reportedly utilized in ritual ceremonies. Two bark engravings and a painted bark emu figure held by the British Museum and Kew Gardens were loaned to the Melbourne Museum in 2004. These items became central to a repatriation dispute when their return was initially prevented by a heritage protection order that was subsequently overturned.

Exhibitions

Kerr's collection was first presented at the 1854 Bendigo (Sandhurst) Exhibition, followed by showcases in Melbourne, and eventually featured at the 1855 Exposition Universelle held in Paris. The Victorian exhibits, including Kerr's works, were overseen by Victorian Special Commissioner Edward Bell, who coordinated the Victorian Court situated within the British Court on the Champs-Élysées.

General references

• Willis, Elizabeth (2003) 'Exhibiting Aboriginal Industry: A Story Behind a 'Re-Discovered' Bark Drawing From Victoria' Aboriginal History, Volume 27, pp. 39–58
• Marguerite Hancock, ‘Introduction’, Glimpses of Life in Victoria by ‘A Resident’ [J.H.Kerr], Melbourne, Miegunyah Press, 1996