John Frazer (politician)

John Frazer (1827 – 25 October 1884) was an Irish-born Australian politician and businessman.^[1]

The Frazer family vault in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney

Biography

Frazer was born at Dromore in County Down to John Frazer and Sarah Waddell. He migrated to New South Wales in 1842, becoming first a squatter and then a clerk. In 1847 he opened a grocery in Sydney. He married Elizabeth Ewan, with whom he had four children, in 1853.^[2]

Frazer took his brother-in-law into partnership in 1859. In the 1860s he was involved in land speculation and acquired several properties. He was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1874 and served there until his death in 1884.^[3]

The last twenty years of Frazer's life were spent at Ranelagh, a three-storey, Italianate mansion in Darling Point Road, Darling Point. Ranelagh was demolished in 1967 and replaced with a high-rise apartment block also called Ranelagh.^[4]

Frazer and the members of his family were incarcerated in a sandstone mausoleum in Rookwood Cemetery. It was built in 1894 along the lines specified by Frazer before his death. The doors bear the initials of him and his wife: JF and EF.

References

1. Australian Dictionary of Biography
2. Australian Dictionary of Biography
3. Parliament of New South Wales (2008). "Mr John Frazer (1827-1884)". Former Members. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
4. auspostal history