Samuel Deane Gordon (12 October 1811 – 24 July 1882) was an Australian merchant, pastoralist and politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

between 1861 and 1882. He was also a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

for three terms from 1856 until 1860.

Early life

Gordon was the son of an Irish farmer, David Gordon and his wife Mary Deane. Gordon was educated in private schools in Ireland. He emigrated to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1829 and worked in a number of mercantile houses before commencing his own company, which was involved in trade between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1840 Gordon established a large store in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, founded a brewery and acquired 50,000 acres of pastoral land on the

Murrumbidgee River The Murrumbidgee River () is a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin and the second longest river in Australia. It flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, desce ...

. In 1848, Gordon sold his assets in Liverpool at a great profit and became a wine and spirits merchant in Sydney. During his later life, in partnership with

Edward Flood Edward Flood (24 June 1805 – 9 September 1888) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1851 and 1856 and again from 1879 until his death. He was also a member of the New South Wales Leg ...

, he gained control over of pastoral land in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. He was also the director of a number of colonial companies including

English, Scottish & Australian Bank The English, Scottish & Australian Bank Limited was an Australian bank founded in 1852 by royal charter in London and named English, Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank. Following a financial reconstruction in 1893 its business was rename ...

. Gordon was involved in numerous local organisations including the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

St Andrew's College, Sydney St Andrew's College is a residential college at the University of Sydney, in the suburb of Newtown, New South Wales, Australia. The College occupies 4 hectares of land within the main campus of the University of Sydney and was built on a sub-gra ...

and the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Colonial Parliament

1856 Events January–March * January 8 – Borax deposits are discovered in large quantities by John Veatch in California. * January 23 – The American sidewheel steamer SS ''Pacific'' leaves Liverpool (England) for a transatl ...

Gordon was elected as one of the three members for

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

in the first New South Wales Legislative Assembly. Gordon was a supporter of

John Dunmore Lang John Dunmore Lang (25 August 1799 – 8 August 1878) was a Scottish-born Australian Presbyterian minister, writer, historian, politician and activist. He was the first prominent advocate of an independent Australian nation and of Australian rep ...

Charles Cowper Sir Charles Cowper (), (26 April 1807 – 19 October 1875) was an Australian politician and the Premier of New South Wales on five occasions from 1856 to 1870. Cowper did useful work but does not rank among the more distinguished Australian ...

and

John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians *J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926), ...

particularly in questions of constitutional reform, education and land reform. He retained the seat at the 1858 election. The seat was abolished in 1859 and Gordon stood unsuccessfully for The Williams, and Morpeth in the 1858 elections, however he regained a seat in the Legislative Assembly at the 1859 Illawarra by-election. He declined to stand for the seat at the 1860 election, but accepted Cowper's invitation to join the Legislative Council as a life-time appointment in 1861. He expressed a desire to reform the council into an elective house.

References

} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Samuel 1811 births 1882 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Politicians from County Down Politicians from Sydney Irish emigrants to colonial Australia 19th-century Australian politicians People from Ballynahinch, County Down