Joseph Docker

Hon. Joseph Docker (1802 – 9 December 1884), was an Australian grazier, early amateur photographer and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1856 to 1861, and again from 1863 until his death in1884. Docker held a number of cabinet positions and other senior executive roles during his 26 years in the New South Wales upper house.

Docker was the second son of wool merchant Robert Docker, of London, of the Dockers of Westmorland (now part of Cumbria). His mother was Eliza, née Perry. Born in 1802, Docker left school at 13 and was apprenticed to Dr Thomas Docker of Dover, whose daughter Agnes he married in 1830. He became a surgeon in the service of the East India Company.

Docker emigrated to the Colony of New South Wales (Australia) in 1835 and established himself as a grazier, with 10,000 acres in the Upper Hunter Valley, at "Thornthwaite", near Scone. Agnes died in childbirth, and Docker briefly returned to England. He was married in April 1839 to Matilda, daughter of Major Thomas Brougham of the East India Company (Presidency armies), from Penrith, Cumberland. after being defeated as a candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Phillip, Brisbane and Bligh. He was a member of the Council until 10 May 1861, and again from 16 December 1863 until 11 December 1884 (his death).

He died on 9 December 1884 (aged 81–82) in Sydney.