Hunter White was an Australian pastoralist, racehorse owner and breeder.
Background
He was born into a socially prominent rural family who had arrived in Sydney in 1826 and owned the Merino sheep and North Devon cattle property Havilah. White was born at Woodlands, near Denman, New South Wales. He was the son of Henry Charles White and his first wife, Isabella Mary Ann (née Lowe).
Woodlands, an historic stud and homestead, had been bought by White"s grandfather, James White circa 1860 and passed in to his father"s hands in 1868.
Career
His family moved from Woodlands to Havilah in 1879. White commenced at Newington College in 1883 during the presidency of the Rev Joseph Horner Fletcher and the last year of the headmastership of Joseph Coates. After World War I, White donated 3470 acres of well improved freehold land to resettle returned soldiers.
White built Havilah Memorial Church in 1905 in memory of his father.
lieutenant was designed by the local architect Harold Hardwick and built of stone. The venture was housed at Bleak House, an 1860s mansion in Market Street, and the building and grounds were made available rent-free for three years by White.
He later gave the property to the church. He was the breeder and owner of Rogilla, the chestnut Australian Thoroughbred gelding.
White also owned Haxton, Open Air and Vigaro.
He imported the sires Roger de Busli, Tippler, Buoyant Bachelor and Fresco. In 1919 White bought Street Bridgid"s at 548 New South Head Road, Double Bay, as his Sydney residence. The house had been designed and built by the English architect Frederick Moore Simpson in 1897.
White left an estate valued at £354,968.
Street Brigid"s was purchased by Woollahra Council in 1951 and has been the home of Woollahra Municipal Library since 1957. Havilah remains in the ownership of the White family.
Membership
From 1900 until his death, White was a member of the Australian Jockey Club and was an elected member of the committee from 1910 through to his retirement in 1940. He also served as a member of the Western Districts Racing Association executive.