John Tom Lane was born in England in 1822, and arrived in NSW as an infant aboard the Jupiter. He married his cousin Mary Rundle Lane in 1844 and they moved into the Clifton Grove homestead, near Orange, which was built as a wedding present for them by John’s father, William Lane. JTL was appointed an honorary magistrate and JP and presided over many cases for 30 years, his signature appearing on several coroner’s reports of the time. JPs held Magisterial enquiries when required, if a death occurred in the vicinity of their properties. Lane became the first Police Magistrate of Orange when that position was created by the Government of Sir James Martin. He was also appointed Gold Commissioner for the district in 1867. As Mining Warden, an office he held from the 1870s to the early 1890s, one of his duties was to report annually on the mining activities of the area, including Ophir.