John Crozier (politician)


John Crozier was a pastoralist of New South Wales and Victoria and a South Australian politician.

History

Crozier was born in Roxburgh, Scotland, and in 1838 emigrated in the Coromandel to New South Wales, where he had been appointed to manage the estate of Redesdale, in the Braidwood district, owned by Dr. Anderson, of Parramatta, and which was principally worked by assigned convicts. For three years he managed the Redesdale property, then from 1841 he managed the Sandhills station, not far from Bungendore and Lake George, in the Bathurst district for Captain Dobson, R.N. While there, he worked closely with John Henry Challis, a member of the firm of Flower, Salting, & Co., who managed Captain Dobson's commercial interests in Sydney, and who bequeathed £100,000 to the Sydney University.
After five years at the Sandhills, he took up a station on the Edward River with partner George Rutherford; then moved to the Wentworth district, where they established Kulnine station. After some years of this pioneering work, Crozier became the sole proprietor of Kulnine, and eventually prospered sufficiently to acquire Moorna and other stations on the opposite side of the Murray. Eventually he sold Kulnine station and half the stock to Mr. Bagot, and as years went on he purchased runs in the north and on the Queensland and New South Wales borders, placing his sons in charge of these properties. In 1866 he moved to Adelaide, and in August that year purchased Oaklands estate, near Brighton, from Samuel R. Kearne and John H. Kearne, whose father Samuel Kearne had established the farm and 24-room residence. The estate included land which became the modern suburbs of Oaklands Park and Warradale.
In 1867 Crozier stood for a seat in the Legislative Council, which at that time was elected by the colony treated as one large constituency "The Province", one third falling vacant every four years. Three seats had become vacant through death or resignation, and Crozier was returned at the head of the poll, with William Morgan and Emanuel Solomon the other successful candidates. In 1877 six elected members were returned: William Morgan, John Crozier, Richard Chaffey Baker, Thomas English, James Pearce and Henry Kent Hughes. For the 1885 election the colony was divided into four districts for the Legislative Council, and Crozier and Henry Scott were returned for the Central district; Crozier died two years later.
He was also for many years chairman of the Brighton District Council, and took a considerable interest in the wine industry, and produced a large quantity while he was at Oaklands. He also took an interest in horse breeding, and imported some high-priced animals from Tasmania. He was in 1875 a founding steward of today's South Australian Jockey Club, along with Sir John Morphett, Sir Henry Ayers and others.

Family

He married Jessie Taylor. Their children included: