José Guillermo (J. G.) Hay was a nature conservationist in

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

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Hay owned and developed large landholdings around Lawson in the Blue Mountains during the 1880s and 1890s; a number of properties and features there are named in his honour.

Biography

Hay came to Australia from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and in 1879, purchased 121.4 hectares of land near the Blue Mountain railway station. He was appointed a trustee of the reserves in the Lawson area on behalf of the Department in 1880. Hay developed real estate around Lawson, and lived in a landmark building known as "The Sanatorium" (later known as "The Palace") and was involved in various community improvement activities in the district. In about 1899, he moved with his family to Western Australia, selling much of his Lawson properties. In 1906, Hay presented a paper to the

West Australian Natural History Society The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914, and also gained the "Royal" name in the same year. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has ...

titled ''The visit of Charles Fraser (the Colonial Botanist of New South Wales) to the Swan River in 1827, with his opinion on the suitableness of the district for a settlement; together with copious notes by J. G. Hay; to which is added The Journal of H.M.S. Success, Captain James Stirling, on the above occasion''. Hay founded the Gould League of Bird Protection in Western Australia in about 1906 and was a natural environment campaigner, lobbying for the creation of Western Australia's first flora and fauna reserve at North Dandalup in 1910.

Biography

References

Further reading