James Strachan (Australian politician)

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.

[2] He was an early settler in Port Phillip District (which later became Victoria), and a leading merchant in Melbourne, in which city he built the first brick store.

[1] Strachan was an active promoter of separation from New South Wales, and when the colony of Victoria was constituted in 1851 he was returned to the semi-elective Legislative Council, then the only chamber, as member for Geelong in October of that year.

[1] During the great constitutional battle between the two Houses on the tariff and Darling grant "tacks" Strachan took a leading part on the side of the Council, and resigning his seat for the South-Western Province, contested the Western Province against Henry Miller, who had accepted office under Sir James McCulloch, and defeated him on 10 August 1866.

[3] Strachan died at Geelong, Victoria on 14 April 1875, aged sixty-five years.