James Ford Strachan (1810 – 14 April 1875) was a merchant, grazier and politician in colonial Victoria, Australia, and a member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

. Strachan was born in Montrose, Scotland, the fifth son of John Strachan and his wife Isobel, ''née'' Smith. Strachan arrived in

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

in 1832 with his widowed mother and two sisters. He was an early settler in

Port Phillip District The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria. In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...

(which later became Victoria), and a leading merchant in Melbourne, in which city he built the first brick store. James Strachan Mausoleum

Strachan was an active promoter of separation from

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and, when the colony of Victoria was constituted in 1851, in October of that year he was returned to the semi-elective

, the only parliamentary chamber at the time, as member for

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

. After

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

was conceded in 1855, Strachan was elected to the first wholly elective Legislative Council for the South-Western Province in November 1856. He was a member of the second Haines Ministry without portfolio from April 1857 to March 1858. Strachan took a leading part on the side of the Legislative Council during the great constitutional battle between the two houses of the Victorian Parliament over the imposition of tariffs and the grant of £20,000 to the wife of the recently dismissed governor, Sir Charles Darling ("the Darling tack"). Strachan resigned his seat of South-Western Province and successfully contested the August 1866 election for

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

against Henry Miller, who had accepted ministerial office under the premier

James McCulloch Sir James McCulloch, (18 March 1819 – 31 January 1893) was a British colonial politician and statesman who served as the fifth premier of Victoria over four non-consecutive terms from 1863 to 1868, 1868 to 1869, 1870 to 1871 and 1875 to 18 ...

. Strachan held the seat until September 1874. Strachan died at

, Victoria on 14 April 1875, aged sixty-five years. He was married to Lilias Cross ''née'' Murray, daughter of Hugh Murray, a fellow Scottish emigrant, merchant and grazier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, James Ford 1810 births 1875 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia People from Montrose, Angus Australian pastoralists 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Australian businesspeople