John Alexander Jackson
South Australian politician and newspaper editor (1809–1885)
John Alexander Jackson (1809 – 25 May 1885) was a public servant, colonial agent in pre-Federation Australia and Treasurer of South Australia.
Jackson was the son of John Serocold Jackson, a major in the 72nd Regiment. The family migrated to Sydney, New South Wales in July 1825. J.A. Jackson was employed as a draughtsman in the Surveyor-General's Department on a salary of £100. After apparently visiting England, he arrived in Launceston aboard the David Owen in June 1831. He owned two large farms, and in 1833, became the editor of John Pascoe Fawkner's Launceston Advertiser.
Jackson was recommended by Sir John Franklin to the Government of South Australia, and was Treasurer in the early days of that colony and Colonial Secretary (succeeding Mr. Robert Gouger) from October 1841 to June 1843, when he resigned owing to a difference with the governor of the colony, Captain (later Sir) George Grey. Jackson was a nominated member of the South Australian Legislative Council. Returning to Tasmania, he went to London as the official representative of the anti-transportation movement, and contributed towards the success of the agitation for granting responsible government to the Australian colonies by his letters to Earl Grey.
“John Alexander Jackson” enters the record as south Australian politician and newspaper editor (1809–1885). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Alexander and Jackson can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Alexander Jackson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.