John Robertson

Sir John Robertson (15 October 1816 – 8 May 1891) was a London-born Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales on five occasions. Robertson is best remembered for land reform and in particular the Robertson Land Acts of 1861, which sought to open up the selection of Crown land and break the monopoly of the squatters.

Robertson was elected to Parliament in 1856 supporting manhood suffrage, secret ballot, electorates based on equal populations, abolition of state aid to religion, government non-denominational schools, free trade, and land reform. He saw free selection of crown land before survey as the key to social reform with poor settlers being able to occupy agricultural and pastoral land, even that occupied by lease-holding squatters. This insight enabled him to dominate the politics of 1856–61.

Biography Robertson was born at Bow, London, the fourth child and third son of James Robertson, a watchmaker and pastoralist from Scotland, and English woman Anna Marie Ripley, who married in Stepney, London in 1809. Subsequently, on the advice of Sir Thomas Brisbane, the then Governor of New South Wales, the family emigrated to Australia, arriving on the "Providence" on 8 January 1822. They were apparently in good circumstances, for, according to the custom of the time, anyone bringing to the colony a sum of not less than £2,500 was entitled to a first class grant of 2500 acres (10 km2) of land, and this they received in the Hunter Valley.

Parliamentary career

With the establishment of responsible government in 1856, Robertson stood for the Legislative Assembly seat of Phillip, Brisbane and Bligh, promising manhood suffrage, secret ballot, electorates based on equal populations, abolition of state aid to religion, government non-denominational schools, free trade, and free selection of crown lands before survey. Although unable to campaign due to poor health he easily defeated his conservative opponent, sitting with other liberals in the new parliament, and soon becoming their leader.

In January 1858, he joined the second Cowper ministry as Secretary for Lands and Public Works. He was largely responsible for amending the electoral law to introduce adult male franchise, increase Legislative Assembly seats from 54 to 80, although eight of these were abolished when Queensland separated in late 1859. It also included a seat for the University of Sydney once it had 100 graduates, which did not occur to 1876. In the June 1859 general election, he was re-elected to his seat, now called Upper Hunter. The Cowper government was defeated in October 1859, partly as a result of Robertson's opposition to the education bill. The succeeding Forster government was forced to resign when it lost a parliamentary vote in February 1860. The five-year terms of the 1856 Council appointments had run out and the Governor appointed a new Council to life terms, including Robertson. Due to the reappointment of Council, the land bills had to be passed again by the Assembly in September and were passed by the Council in October 1861. Almost his last act was the sending of a letter opposing it to the Sydney Morning Herald, which appeared on the day preceding his death. His statue graces The Domain near the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Federal division of Robertson, the former state electoral district of Robertson, and the NSW Southern Highlands town of Robertson were all named after him. who built the first Marine Biological Station in Australia at Watsons Bay.

One of his grandchildren, Archibald Clark Kerr, later Sir Archibald and then later Lord Inverchapel, became one of Britain's most influential 20th century diplomats.