John Lucas (24 June 1818 – 1 March 1902) was a builder and politician in colonial New South Wales, a member of both the Legislative Assembly and

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

Early life

Lucas was born on 24 June 1818 at Kingston, part of , to John Lucas, a miller and builder, and Mary Rowley, a daughter of Thomas Rowley. He was educated at a Church of England school in Liverpool, and Captain Beveridge's boarding school. He left school to be apprenticed as a carpenter, the trade of his grandfather

Nathaniel Lucas Nathaniel Lucas (1764–1818) was a convict transported to Australia on the First Fleet. His occupation was listed as carpentry, carpenter. Life Lucas was born in Leatherhead, Surrey, England, to parents John Lucas & Mary Bradford in 1764. L ...

Political career

He first stood for the Legislative Assembly at the 1859 election for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, but was unsuccessful. He won the seat at the 1860 by-election, holding it at the 1860 general election. In December 1864 he was elected to both

, and

Hartley Hartley may refer to: Places Australia *Hartley, New South Wales * Hartley, South Australia ** Electoral district of Hartley, a state electoral district Canada * Hartley Bay, British Columbia United Kingdom * Hartley, Cumbria * Hartley, P ...

, choosing to represent Hartley. He was defeated in an attempt to return to Canterbury at the election in December 1869. He regained a seat in the assembly at the 1871 Canterbury by-election, serving until his retirement in 1880. His only ministerial appointment was as

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines was an office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for ...

in the third Robertson ministry from February 1875 until March 1877. He was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1880 and served until his death.

Personal life

He married Ann Sammons on 4 January 1841 at , and they had five children. He was noted patron of the

Jenolan Caves The Jenolan Caves (Tharawal language, Tharawal: ''Binoomea'', ''Bindo'', ''Binda'') are limestone cave, limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in the Central Tablelands region, west of the Blue Mountains (New Sout ...

in the Blue Mountains where a cave and a tour have since been named in his honour. He also maintained a holiday cottage on

Lapstone Lapstone is an Australian township on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Mountains (Australia), Blue Mountains in New South Wales at an elevation of 160 m (525 ft). Lapstone is located 62 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD in the Local g ...

Hill at the Eastern edge of the Blue Mountains. On the original

Lapstone Zig Zag The Lapstone Zig Zag was a zig zag railway built between and stations on the Main Western Line of New South Wales in Australia. Constructed between 1863 and 1865 to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the Blue M ...

a station was built for him and named '. The remains of the station are still visible today. Lucas died at Camperdown on .

References

External links

* Photograph of John Lucas at the National Library of Australia https://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23460676 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, John 1818 births 1902 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians