Aubrey White was born in Ireland in 1845 and immigrated to Canada when he was 17 years old. He chose to settle in North Falls (later renamed Bracebridge) where he worked briefly as an assistant shop keeper. White had a determined and adventurous spirit so he didn’t stay long as a shop keeper. His strong character and his obvious abilities were spotted early on by AP Cockburn who was in the process of creating a fleet of steamships for his Muskoka Navigation Company. Aubrey White was one of Cockburn’s first employees and he was soon appointed to the rank of Captain, piloting the steamships around the waterways of Muskoka.

White eventually found his way to Toronto and into government. As a deputy minister he was responsible for establishing Algonquin Park and in 1885 he developed a fire fighting plan for Crown forests in the province.

White died in 1915. He is buried in Bracebridge and has a plaque in his honor at High Falls Park.