He was born in Yorkshire 75 years ago. Before coming to the colonies he was engaged with his father in railway building in the Old Country.
About 58 years ago they arrived in Melbourne in the ship Guy Mannering, coming to Dunedin in the Empress of the Seas in 1861.
In common with some other pioneers, Mr Whittaker was engaged in wagoning to the Dunstan for some time, and was afterwards at the Gabriel's Gully rush.
In 1865 he went overland to the West Coast, where he and his father, with whom he was in partnership for many years, were road contracting, wharf-carting, etc.
In 1877 the offer of the then well-known firm of contractors, J. Whittaker and Co., was accepted for the platelaying and other works required for the completion of the railway from Waipahi to Clinton.
On January 15, 1879, their tender was accepted for the construction of the Waimea Plains railway, this work being completed in September, 1882.
In the same year they completed the Edendale-Wyndham section, and began the Albury-Fairlie Creek contract.
In 1887 they had the masonry contract for the Barewood bridges on the Otago Central line.
The Kingston wharf, the Woodville and Nightcaps railways were amongst their other works.
When the Government ceased to let large railway contracts Mr Whittaker entered the service of the Public Works Department, and was engaged as an inspector on the Otago Central railway till its completion at Clyde, and later at the Gore Waikaka section, from which he retired in 1908.
Mr Whittaker leaves a widow, two sons, and two daughters, one of the sons being an engineer in the service of the Malayan Tin Dredging Company and the other a Government surveyor in Fiji.
• Music plays a large part in the spare hours of our men in the training camp at Featherston.
There are no fewer than 20 pianos there, and for 12 months the camp has possessed a brass band.
"As each contingent goes,'' said a bandman to a Feilding Star representative who was visiting the camp, "we think we are going to lose our band, but other players always come on to fill up the gap.''
During a chat an officer was asked by the pressman: "Do you have much talent in the entertaining line?''
The officer replied: "It would surprise you, the talented men who enlist. We have fellows who are topnotchers in every way. Take this lot (the Sixteenths) - the very best yet; we have a clever solo pianist, a tip-top cellist, a splendid tenor singer, a basso profundo, and an officer who actually played in Hamlet in Sir Beerbohm Tree's dramatic company in London.'' - ODT, 18.7.1916.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
