John Richards Harris

Sir John Richards Harris, (24 January 1868 – 16 September 1946) was an Australian politician. A medical officer in early life, he is also noted as the first producer of sherry in Australia.

Early life and war service Harris was born in Chiltern, Victoria, to miner Thomas Henry Harris and Mary Richards Hollow. He attended Grenville College in Ballarat and then the University of Melbourne (MB 1890, BSc 1891, MD 1902). From 1891 to 1892, he was the resident medical officer at Melbourne Hospital and, from 1892, was based in Rutherglen. At Rutherglen he had become a viticulturist, producing the first sherry in Australia in 1912. which soon became the Country Party. From 2 July 1925 to 20 May 1927, he was a minister without portfolio. He kept his leadership of the Country Party in the Council, which he had held since 1928 and retained until 1942.

Harris was Minister of Public Instruction and Public Health from 1935 to 1942. Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1937, he also served as chairman of the Council of Agricultural Education (1944–45) and the State Emergency Council (1939–42). Harris was defeated in the 1946 Victorian Legislative Council election and died later that year in Rutherglen.

Family On 16 December 1896, Harris married Jessie Lily Prentice, with whom he had three sons.