John West | |
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 Engraving of West by John Cochran, n.d. | |
| Personal | |
| Born | 17 January 1809 England |
| Died | 11 December 1873 (aged 64) |
| Religion | Christianity (Congregationalist) |
John West (17 January 1809 – 11 December 1873) [1] emigrated from England to Van Diemen's Land in 1838 as a Colonial missionary, and became pastor of an Independent (Congregational) Chapel in Launceston's St. John's Square. He also co-founded The Examiner newspaper in 1842 and was later editor of The Sydney Morning Herald .
West was born in England, the son of The Reverend William West and his wife Ann, née Ball. [1] West emigrated to Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania) in 1839 where he officiated as an Independent minister at Launceston for sixteen years. [2] West attracted half of the members of the Congregational ministry of Charles Price. [3] West's contribution to Launceston and Australian life was great and varied promoting private and charitable enterprise. With James Aikenhead and J. S. Waddell, West founded The Examiner newspaper in 1842. He co-founded the London Agency Association to promote colonial interests, an Immigration Society,[ citation needed ] the Launceston Mechanics' Institute (1842), [4] City Mission, Public Hospital, General Cemetery, and Cornwall Insurance Company in Launceston and the Hobart Town High School.
John West was a leader in the movement seeking the abolition of transportation of convicts to the Australian Colonies. Affronted by the social, economic and moral effects of convictism, he promoted Colonial opposition to transportation from his pulpit and editorials in the Examiner and Hobart's Colonial Times, though historian Babette Smith has exposed West's demagogic rhetoric against convict society. He founded the Launceston Association for the Cessation of Transportation which developed into the first intercolonial political organisation, the Australasian Anti-Transportation League, in Melbourne in 1851. For this occasion he collaborated on the design of the League banner, the precursor to the Australian National Flag. The success of united action against Transportation, which was abolished in 1853, led West to expand his interest in representational government through his essays on Federation, Union of the Colonies, (under the pseudonym John Adams) published locally and in The Sydney Morning Herald during 1854.
In 1854 the proprietor of The Sydney Morning Herald, John Fairfax, invited John West to become its first official editor, and West moved to Sydney from where he guided debate on matters of colonial, national and international importance until his sudden death in Woollahra, Sydney, in 1873. His two-volume History of Tasmania, published in 1852, analysed the development of the Colony, the penal system and the condition of the Aboriginal people. Later research disclosed few errors, and West is regarded as one of the founders of Australian historical writing. [5] He is honoured by the Examiner-John West Memorial Lecture in Launceston and the John West Medal at the University of Sydney.
Martin Cash was a notorious Irish-Australian convict bushranger, known for escaping twice from Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land. His 1870 autobiography, The Adventures of Martin Cash, ghostwritten by James Lester Burke, also a former convict, became a best seller in Australia.
Ronald Campbell Gunn, FRS, was a Cape Colony-born Tasmanian botanist and politician.
William Thomas Napier Champ was a soldier and politician who served as the first Premier of Tasmania from 1856 to 1857. He was born in the United Kingdom.
The Australasian Anti-Transportation League was a body established to oppose penal transportation to Australia. Beginning in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in the late 1840s, it had branches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canterbury. The Colonial Office abandoned transportation to eastern Australia in 1852.
The following lists events that happened during 1883 in Australia.
The Colonial Secretary of Van Diemen's Land was the representative of the British Colonial Office in Van Diemen's Land, and was usually appointed from Britain. In 1884, the role was renamed Chief Secretary.
William Henty. He moved to Van Diemen's Land in 1837 and for over 20 years practised as a solicitor. In 1857 he was elected a member of the legislative council for Tamar and was colonial secretary in the Weston cabinet. He held this office for five and a half years until his resignation in 1862.
Charles Meredith was an Australian grazier and politician. He served as Tasmanian Colonial Treasurer for several years in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Edward Abbott was a soldier, politician, judge-advocate and public servant who served at Parramatta, the Hawkesbury River and Norfolk Island in the colony of New South Wales, now part of present-day Australia. He also served at the settlements of Launceston and Hobart in Van Diemen's Land, which was part of New South Wales until 1825, when Van Diemen's Land became a self-governing colony.
Sir William Lambert Dobson was an English-born Australian politician, a Leader of the Opposition and Chief Justice of Tasmania, (Australia).
James Erskine Calder was a Surveyor General of the Colony of Tasmania, now an Australian state.
Edward Boyd was a Surveyor General of Tasmania,.
William Dodery was an Australian politician.
Henry James Emmett (1782–1848) was an English born public servant. He was in the War Office in England for seven years before emigrating to Van Diemen's Land in 1819 where he filled a number of roles in government. He and his family travelled on the Regalia a private merchant ship, arriving on 30 November 1819.
Charles Price was an English-born Congregational minister in colonial Tasmania.
Sir Matthew Henry Stephen, was a politician and Puisne Judge in New South Wales.
Henry Dowling was a newspaper editor and politician in colonial Tasmania. He was the older brother of artist Robert Hawker Dowling.
Michael Fenton was a politician in colonial Tasmania. He was the first Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.
John Alexander Jackson was a public servant, colonial agent in pre-Federation Australia and Treasurer of South Australia.
Samuel John Sutton was an Australian politician.
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