Portrait of J. Jacob from Paralana from the S.A. Northern Pioneers' composite, 1850-1859 (shown in position on B 6912/4).

John arrived in Launceston, Tasmania aboard the Juliet (ship) and after 6 weeks came to South Australia in 1838 on the William (ship).  Shortly after arriving he joined George Field and Alfred Barker and they travelled to Sydney to purchase cattle which were then overlanded to Mt Barker. Jacob formed a station at McLaren Vale and then joined with his brother William at Moorooroo in the Barossa. From here he moved to Blyth Plains, which was also known as Jacob's Plains. After being involved in other pastoral runs in the mid north the brothers settled at Paralana in the Gammon Ranges. Paralana is recorded as comprising 582 square miles of country: at its most profitable period it was stocked with 7000 cattle. This great herd was nearly entirely wiped out in the drought of the 1860s. 

John then moved to Mintaro where he worked as an agent, and later became Clerk of the Local Court in Mount Gambier in 1868. He held this position for the next 20 years and retired to North Adelaide where he died 29 August 1910.

The Jacob brothers have given their name to one of the great wine regions of Australia: Jacobs Creek. Jacob's Creek was named by William Light, after his surveying assistant, William Jacob who subsequently settled on the banks of the Creek with his brother John at Moorooroo. 

Jacob, William 1815-1902

Cockburn, R Pastoral pioneers of South Australia Adelaide : Publishers Limited, 1925-1927 ("Reprinted from the Adelaide Stock and Station Journal.") vol. 1 pp. 138-39

An interesting pioneer Adelaide observer, 31 May 1902, p. 25

Jacob family PRG 558

Jacobs Creek (place)

John and William Jacob B 7025