John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1891)
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.
1816Oct, 15
John Robertson (premier)
Choose Another Date
Events on 1816
- 20Feb
The Barber of Seville
Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. - 10Apr
Second Bank of the United States
The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States. - 22May
Ely and Littleport riots of 1816
A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, which spreads to Ely the next day. - 5Aug
Electrical telegraph
The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds's new invention of the first working electric telegraph as "wholly unnecessary", preferring to continue using the semaphore. - 14Aug
Cape Colony
The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South Africa.