John Jackson Oakden (1818 – 31 March 1884), pastoralist, was an English explorer of South Australia, part of the European exploration of Australia, and a pioneer runholder of the Canterbury region of New Zealand.
Early life
Born in 1818 at Yeaveley, Derbyshire, England, Oakden was a son of Daniel Oakden, yeoman farmer, of ancient Bentley Hall at Hungry Bentley. He arrived in Australia in 1834 as a commercial cadet to his uncle, the banker and pastoralist Philip Oakden (1784–1851), of Launceston, Tasmania. Through a paternal aunt, Patience Gilles, née Oakden, after whom the Adelaide suburb of Oakden was named in 1993, he was also a nephew of Osmond Gilles, first Colonial Treasurer of South Australia. After visiting England, Oakden returned to Australia aboard the John Renwick, arriving at Adelaide in February 1837 as Philip Oakden's South Australian agent. Osmond Gilles, who was widowed and childless, thereafter placed Oakden under his patronage. Oakden travelled to Launceston in January 1838 for the purpose of importing livestock to the new colony.
Murray River expedition
In March 1838, four young men in their twenties, John Hill (c.1810-1860), William Wood (1813-1885), Charles Willis (1815-1886), and John Oakden (1818-1884), all being livestock importers from the eastern colonies, formed an exploration party in Adelaide. Their intention was to be the first to bring livestock overland from New South Wales to South Australia, following the Murray River, for which purpose they sought to find a viable route through the Mount Lofty Ranges between the Murray River and Adelaide. Travelling on horseback with packhorses, after leaving Adelaide they first traversed the Barossa Valley, finding and naming Cockatoo Valley. Continuing northeast past Nuriootpa to near Eudunda, they likely sighted and named the Light River along the journey. Upon reaching the Murray near present Morgan they were the first Europeans to visit the Riverland region, whether from Adelaide or from the eastern colonies, since Charles Sturt's open boat expedition in 1830. Oakden's report of this expedition was published in newspapers around Australia.
In 1839–1840 Oakden was Second Clerk in the Treasury, under his uncle Osmond Gilles. In February 1839 Oakden was part of a syndicate of six, led by William Finke (First Treasury Clerk), and including Osmond Gilles, which won the right to purchase the original town of Glenelg at £1 per acre, though Oakden failed to turn this to maximum financial advantage.
Kadlunga, South Australia
In 1839 Osmond Gilles was part of a syndicate of nine investors that established the Hutt River Special Survey in the Clare Valley. As a result, around 1841 Oakden relinquished town life to take up managing sheep grazing properties in that locality. Among these was Kadlunga (also spelt Cadlunga, Tadlunga and Katalunga in earliest times), held under an occupation licence by James Stein. Kadlunga, beside Mount Horrocks and near Mintaro, was in later decades a premium sheep stud owned by Sir Samuel Way. During Oakden's time in the Clare Valley Mount Oakden (altitude ) at nearby Penwortham was named for him. He was a close associate of neighbouring pastoralist John Ainsworth Horrocks, whose brother Arthur Horrocks resided with Oakden at Kadlunga from 1846 until his marriage in 1850, at which Oakden was groomsman. In 1846 Oakden had leased Kadlunga from Stein, who in 1848 became insolvent. Oakden then managed it until 1850.