Johnny Jones

John Jones (March 1809 – 16 March 1869) was a mariner, trader, shipowner and whaler in Sydney and later became a settler in New Zealand.

Born in Sydney, Jones was the third son of Thomas Jones, one of the early settlers in New South Wales.

He married Sarah Sizemore on 7 January 1828 in Sydney, and they had 11 children, although two died as infants. John Richard Jones was his eldest son.

In 1835 Jones and Edwin Palmer went into a partnership to purchase a whaling station in New Zealand and a schooner for whaling. Within the next few years, his shrewd business skills allowed him to gain a controlling interest in seven New Zealand whaling stations.

Johnny Jones's tomb in Dunedin Southern CemeteryIn 1838 he bought a whaling station and land near Waikouaiti, and also purchased a large area of land from Ngāi Tahu chief "Bloody Jack" Tūhawaiki, amounting to a considerable part of what is now North and Central Otago. Much of this purchase was later annulled when South Island lands were ceded to the Crown. After long wrangling, Jones was eventually allowed to keep some .

In 1840, Jones' Waikouaiti station became the organised settlement in the eastern South Island known as Matanaka Farm. About a dozen families from Sydney were settled close to the station as a farming community, providing food for the station, growing crops and raising sheep and cattle.

Jones was an Anglican. Jones left a large bequest in his will to the Diocese of Dunedin for the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral.