John Frazer (politician)


John Frazer was an Irish-born Australian politician and businessman.
, 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.
Frazer took his brother-in-law into partnership in 1859. In the 1860s he was involved in land speculation and acquired several properties.
In 1862–1863, he was one of four prominent new shareholders that reformed the company operating the Fitzroy Iron Works at Mittagong. After this venture failed, he was instrumental in interesting English capitalists in investing in the Mittagong works. Frazer paid £10,000 to the bank in 1872, clearing the debts of the works. The new company issued its prospectus in April 1873. It was controlled by English interests, with Frazer being a shareholder.
He was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1874 and served there until his death in 1884.
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.
Frazer and the members of his family were interred in a sandstone mausoleum in Rookwood Cemetery. It was built in 1894 along the lines specified by Frazer before his death. The doors bear his initials and those of his wife: JF and EF.