John Alexander MacPherson

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John Alexander MacPherson

7th Premier of Victoria
In office 20 September 1869 – 9 April 1870
Preceded by	James McCulloch
Succeeded by	James McCulloch
Personal details
Born	15 October 1833 Springbank, Limestone Plains(Canberra), New South Wales (ACT)
Died	17 February 1894(1894-02-17) (aged 60) Chertsey, Surrey, England
Nationality	Australian
Spouse(s)	Helen, née Watson

John Alexander MacPherson (15 October 1833 – 17 February 1894),^[1] Australian colonial politician, was the 7th Premier of Victoria.

MacPherson was born at his father's property of Springbank on the Limestone Plains, in New South Wales (the present site of Canberra): he was the first Premier of Victoria born in Australia. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian pastoralist. He came to the Port Phillip District as a child with his family and was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and Edinburgh University, where he graduated in law. He was admitted to the Victorian bar in 1866 and practised law before becoming a pastoralist near Hamilton in the Western District.

MacPherson was elected as a conservative to the Legislative Assembly for Portland in November 1864,^[2] and for Dundas in February 1866.^[1] In September 1869, when the liberal Premier James McCulloch resigned, MacPherson was commissioned as Premier. His government was in a weak parliamentary position and had little prospect of survival. But it did succeed in passing an effective land selection act, allowing small farmers to select land on the squatters' pastoral runs, before being defeated in the Assembly and resigning in April 1870.

MacPherson served as Chief Secretary in the third McCulloch government in 1875 to 1877, before retiring from politics in July 1878,^[1] still aged only 44. In 1880 he returned to Britain and settled in Surrey, where he died in 1894. He married Louisa Featherstonhaugh in 1858: they had seven children.

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Macpherson, John Alexander". re-member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
↑ Mennell, Philip (1892). " Macpherson, Hon. John Alexander". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co. Wikisource

Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900–84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856–1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856–1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992

Political offices
Preceded by James McCulloch	Premier of Victoria 1869–1870	Succeeded by James McCulloch

v t e Premiers of Victoria

Haines O'Shanassy Nicholson Heales McCulloch Sladen MacPherson Duffy Francis Kerferd Berry Service O'Loghlen Gillies Munro Shiels Patterson Turner McLean Peacock Irvine Bent Murray Watt Elmslie Bowser Lawson Prendergast Allan Hogan McPherson Argyle Dunstan Cain Sr Macfarlan Hollway McDonald Bolte Hamer Thompson Cain Jr Kirner Kennett Bracks Brumby Baillieu Napthine

Persondata
Name	Macpherson, John Alexander
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	15 October 1833
Place of birth	Springbank, Limestone Plains(Canberra), New South Wales (ACT)
Date of death	17 February 1894
Place of death	Chertsey, Surrey, England

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