Sir James McCulloch, KCMG (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 1877.

[4] When Victoria gained responsible government in 1856, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Wimmera, which he represented from November 1856 to around August 1859,[3] when he shifted to East Melbourne from October 1859.

McCulloch, who was a director of the London Bank, then took the extraordinary step of lending his own government 860,000 pounds to meet its debts and running expenses.

Finally, after prolonged negotiations, McCulloch agreed to resume office and the Council passed a modified tariff bill and granted supply.

But in May word came that the Colonial Secretary in London, the Duke of Buckingham, had instructed the new Governor, Sir John Manners-Sutton, to support the Council in blocking the grant to Darling.

McCulloch at once resigned, and the Governor commissioned a conservative member of the Council, Charles Sladen, to form a government which did not have a majority in the Assembly.

This negation of democracy provoked widespread protests and produced a dangerous situation, which was resolved only in July when the Colonial Office changed its mind about Darling's pension and the Council agreed to a moderate reform bill broadening its electoral base.

This country was later the site of the fabulous silver mines of Broken Hill and Silverton, and by good fortune George was one of the original investors and became wealthy from its discovery.