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John
Harris BROWNE (1817-1904)
Brown was born in England. He was well educated and qualified
for the medical profession at Edinburgh university. He went to
South Australia in 1840, took up land, and in 1844 was asked by
Charles Sturt (q.v.) to join his expedition to central Australia as
surgeon. During this journey he was of the greatest assistance to
Sturt, and when his leader fell ill with scurvy, took command of
the party on the return journey and brought it to safety. He
afterwards became a highly successful squatter and held an enormous
amount of land in South Australia. In his later years he lived for
long periods in England, and died there in January 1904.
He married and was survived by a son and daughter. He was a
kindly, modest and courageous man who never sought publicity; but
both in the official biography and in Sturt's own account of the
journey to central Australia we have many references to Browne's
ability as an explorer and his loyalty to Sturt, who probably owed
his life to him.
Browne's elder brother, William James Browne (1815-1894), who
also qualified as a physician, arrived in South Australia in 1839
and became a very successful pastoralist. He was a member of the
house of assembly from 1860 to 1862. He left South Australia for
England with his family in 1878 and in 1880 was an unsuccessful
candidate at an election for the house of commons. He died at
Eastbourne, England, on 4 December 1894. As a pastoralist he did
valuable work in experimenting with grasses and fodder plants, and
with fine wools from crossbred Lincoln and Merino sheep.
