John Jackson Oakden

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.

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.

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 discovered 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.

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