James Whyte was born near Greenlaw, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, the son of George Whyte, a captain in the yeomanry, and his wife Jessie. The family emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1832, and as a young man Whyte was a pioneer sheep-farmer in Victoria's western district with his brothers, managing the approximately 57,000 acre Kononwotong sheep run near present-day Coleraine, Victoria. In 1840, James, his brothers and their convict servants perpetrated the Fighting Hills massacre - their party killing between 40-80 JardwadjaliAboriginal people while recovering stolen sheep. The party suffered no deaths and records do not show any violence on the part of the Aboriginal people. The Whyte brothers intended to kill all the Jardwajali people present, but the Jardwajali people fled in a moment of confusion after one of the attackers died in friendly fire. A month later the Whyte brothers were involved in another massacre of up to 60 Jardwadjali people, the Fighting Waterholes massacre. His obituary later understated these incident saying:
"The difficulties with the savage aborigines were very great, and had to be overcome."
In 1845, the Konongwootong sheep run was divided - James took 8,000 acres of land, and named the run Koroite. James later gained wealth from the discovery of gold at a property at Clunes, Victoria, in which he was a partner. It was developed into the Port PhillipGold Mine. He returned to Tasmania in 1853. Whyte and his brothers are recognised as pioneers of Coleraine, Victoria with the Main Street named after them.
Political career
Having failed to win a seat in 1854, Whyte was elected to the Legislative Council for Pembroke in 1856. After serving briefly as a minister under the premiership of Thomas Gregson and serving as chairman of several council committees, he became premier and colonial secretary on 20 January 1863. His government engaged in road and rail development, in public service reform, and in fiscal reform including an unpopular proposal for a property and income tax which was to cause its downfall in November 1866. In 1869-70 he was involved in framing laws to prevent the spread of scab disease in sheep, and was chief inspector of sheep from 1870 until 1882. He continued as an active member of committees until 1875, retiring from parliament in 1876.
