Frederick Charles Porter

Frederick Charles Porter (1832-1869) was an Australian miner and explorer of the Gippsland region of Victoria. His exploration work in early 1862 was critical in helping open up the Jordan goldfields.

Frederick Porter (known as 'Fred') was born in 1832 in Queenborough, Kent, England. He migrated to Australia as a child with his family, arriving in Adelaide on the Dumfires in 1839. His father, George Porter, and his uncle, William Porter, were sea captains, who settled in Australia and New Zealand. He first worked as a baker in Hindmarsh. Porter married Eliza Kimpton in 1854, with whom he had seven children. After the death of their second child in 1857, the Porters travelled overland to the Victorian goldfields. The family first appears at the Forest Creek diggings in 1859, before settling at Stratford, north of Sale in Gippsland.

By 1862, Porter had developed a good knowledge of the region. When a group of Sale businessmen raised a reward through public subscription of ₤80 to open up a track from Sale to supply the Jordan goldfields, Porter led three expeditions in the hope of claiming the reward. Before a supply route from Sale was established, provisions for the miners at the Jordan River were carted infrequently from Melbourne through Jamieson and exorbitant prices were being charged. It was feared that the diggings would close down over the winter months, unless a secure and closer supply route could be found.

Porter's first expedition included the Prussian-born, Henry Buhrow and was completed in May 1862. In mid-1862 Porter led a second party of seven men to test the value of his track and to bring the first supplies from Sale to the Jordan miners. This party was composed of Fred Porter, Percy Lloyd, William Thomas, Jack 'Nob' Belcher, Louis Armstrong and two unknown men. Shortly afterwards, Porter led a third expedition to bring further provisions to the miners and to prove the utility of his route.

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