Profile - RALSTON John 05RAJ3

                RALSTON John (bp 15/10/1810 - 27/09/1880)  05RAJ3

Father   :     RALSTON    * Robert
Mother : BRYCE    Elizabeth
Siblings:     *Janet    Agnes    Margaret Matthew    Jane    Mary    Sarah    William

Married:      HUTCHISON   Rachel Wier (10/04/1844, at Cormison on the Tamar River at Riverside near Launceston)
Issue    :      Anna    Robert   William Charles Elizabeth   John    Jane   Harry    Russell    Frank   Maude

John Ralston was baptised on 05/03/1810 and died on 27 Sep 1880, at Logan Falls, Evandale, age 70 . He went to Tasmania on the Amity in 1823 with his father, Robert, his brother Matthew and several other family members (See Robert's Personal Profile for more details). He was the first Warden of Evandale, a JP, a Coroner and farmed Logan Falls which is on the outskirts of Evandale Tasmania.

John married Rachel Wier Hutchison (both above), daughter of John Hutchison, writer to the Sygnet (WS), Edinburgh, 10 Apr 1844 at ‘Cormiston’, on the Tamar at Riverside near Launceston. (Evandale History Society)

Eldest daughter Anna married Alan McKinnon of Mountford, Longford, sons William Henry who married Maria Gatenby and Robert (Gavin) Ralston .(Evandale History Society)

Youngest children Russell, Maude who married Alan Cameron and Frank.

Photograph of Logan, Robert Ralston's grant near Evandale, later overseen by his son John.

In 1825, although he was under age, John received a land grant at Morven (Evandale) and rented adjoining land but continued to oversee Logan. He was in partnership with his father in 1830 who in the depression of the 1930's became a loser to the sum of £1441, a fortune in those days. None-the-less John continued to expand his business interests.

At the end of free land grants and with the best of land in Van Diemens Land already settled, many settlers had eyes for Victoria. John was amongst the earliest to investigate the pastoral areas of what was to become Victoria and in by 1836 he went to Victoria and in 1949 expanded his interests by taking up Roseneath of. some 47,000 acres and holding the licence for the neighbouring property Dergholm in the Portland Bay District.

By 1854 John was back at Logan and was in partnership with his brother Matthew in the Strathmore Flour Mill. By 1864, John acquired some of Honey Suckle (64,000 acres) near Violet Town in Victoria and by 1865 his sons Robert William and Charles were farming Honey Suckle North.

In 1861 John, his brother Matthew and William Gordon successfully applied for runs in Queensland when land became available. These runs were advertised for sale in 1872.

A government notice from the Attorney General's Office, 13/03/1875, announced that the Governor accepted John's resignation of his Commission as a Coroner of Tasmania and its Dependencies.

An Atrocity at Logan

In January 1826 at about the time when Robert and his sons, Matthew and John, came to take up Logan Falls, a terrible atrocity took place on the boundary of their property. An evil convict named Jeffries escaped with Russell and Hopkins. When they ran out of food, Jeffries murdered Russell and the remaining two lived on his flesh.

On the boundary of Logan lived a settler named Tibbs with his wife, an infant and an elderly stockman. Their meal was interrupted by Jeffries who ordered the two men to get Jeffries' mate who was lying wounded on a bank behind Tibbs' hut. The stockman refused so Jeffries shot him in the chest. Jeffries forced, at gunpoint, Tibbs and his wife who was carrying her infant to hurry up the hill. When Mrs Tibbs begged for an opportunity to rest, Jeffries grabbed the baby by the legs and flung it hard, dashing its head against a tree, saying, "Now you can go faster". Tibbs was understandably enraged and attacked Jeffries who shot him dead. Jeffries went off into the bush leaving a distraught Mrs Tibbs.

Jeffries was captured and sent to Hobart with another famous captured bushranger, Matthew Brady. When Brady heard about this he had to be argued out of leading his gang in a frontal assault on the Launceston lockup, freeing all the prisoners, dragging Jeffries out and flogging him to death. Both were later sentenced and hanged