John Thomas Smith

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John Thomas Smith (28 May 1816 – 30 January 1879) was an Australian politician and seven times mayor of Melbourne.

Smith was born at Sydney and educated under William Timothy Cape. He was for a time in the service of the recently established Bank of Australasia, but in September 1837 obtained the appointment of schoolmaster at an aboriginal mission station in the colony of Victoria at a salary of £40 a year. Shortly afterwards he went into business as a grocer, and was in the timber trade in 1840, In the following year he became a hotel-keeper and was so successful that in a comparatively short period he obtained a competency. At the first election for the Melbourne city council, held on 1 December 1842, he was elected a councillor for the Bourke ward, and except for a short interval, he was on the council for the remainder of his life. In 1851 he was elected mayor of Melbourne and was subsequently elected to that position no fewer than six times, his last year of office being 1864.

In November 1854, at the time of the Eureka stockade rebellion, he took an active part in raising special constables, as there were rumours that attacks on the treasury and banks were contemplated. He was especially thanked by the governor, Sir Charles Hotham, who said there was "no person in the country to whom he was more indebted". Smith had been elected to the legislative council in 1851, and in 1856, when responsible government came in, he was elected a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly as one of the representatives of Melbourne. At subsequent elections he was returned for Creswick, and West Bourke, retaining his seat until his death on 30 January 1879, when he was the "father of the house". His wife and children survived him.

Smith took great interest in various charities moving, for instance, the motion that was carried in 1848 for the establishment of a benevolent asylum. He advocated reductions in the hours of labour and generally was an active and useful member of council and parliament, though he only once attained cabinet rank—he was minister of mines in the John Alexander MacPherson government from September 1869 until April 1870.

[edit] References

• Serle, Percival. (1949). "Smith, John Thomas". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.