John Hodgson (Australian politician)
John Hodgson (1799 – 2 August 1860) was an Australian politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Council and Mayor of Melbourne 1853–54.
[1] He built a house in Flinders Street and country quarters on the Yarra where he established a punt in 1839; insolvent 1841; grazing interests in Heidelberg district from 1842'.
By 1844,[11] 1845,[12] 1848[13] 1849[14] and 1850 the Government Gazette reports him taking out a licence to ‘depasture stock, strip bark, and cut timber, (in Bourke) in the district of Port Phillip’.
Hodgson's Paddock, Studley, near Melbourne.’ In 1851, he ran for the City of Melbourne in the inaugural Victorian Legislative Council, meeting the Candidate criteria.
When he stood for election to the first Legislative Council in 1851, the Argus attacked his candidacy, commenting on his business interests as follows: it appears that his profession is of such a nature, as to afford ample leisure to attend to anything he takes in hand, and therefore, industry may be added to his list of public virtues.
The Sydney Herald[25] and the Hobart Town Courier and Van Diemen's Land Gazette both carried reports of a 2-foot-long (0.61 m) cucumber grown by his gardener.
One reference says that 'The site of the former St Heliers Convent was originally purchased ...by Major Henry Smyth of Sydney in 1838, and leased to John Hodgson.
'[29] Another reference says 'One of these riverside allotments was purchased by Edward Curr, who built a house on the site, and named it St Helier.
[31] This is supported by the Port Phillip Herald 28 January 1842 which reported 'Mr Hodgson's beautiful property (35 acres) on the Yarra, known as 'St Hillier' was sold by the Sheriff on Tuesday for £1160, subject to a mortgage of £1100.
Hodgson provided various addresses in public advertisements in the Argus, including the Melbourne Club and Bank Place.
On 3 June 1852 from the Bank Place address he advertised for rent a "large and substantial Home, suitable for a Public House, one mile from Melbourne".
The original house is symmetrical with a double storeyed colonnade of ionic on Tuscan orders supporting a parapet with urns.
One hundred fifty-six electors chose not to vote; the Argus called it a "pygmy contest" and "a very tame and spiritless affair, and the stake so small as to be hardly worth playing for seriously, presenting only the not very tempting bait of a seat in the City Council for the short period of five months".
His recorded interventions as a new Councillor relate to his Committee roles, seconding motions on sewerage, clean water, and the Surveyor's salary.
He revealed some of his views by taking a strong stand against the pro-transportation and anti-Port Phillip opinions expressed by William Wentworth.
Of his political principle's we think pretty nearly as humbly as we do of his capacity ... he appears to court popularity by trying to conciliate all; and he therefore becomes, what all such men are apt to become, something very like a trimmer.
And yet a diligent canvass on the part of the latter, has impressed many sagacious people with the belief that Councillor Hodsgon will succeed in ousting Mr Westgarth.
Later, however, on 8 June 1853[38] Hodgson was elected to the City of Melbourne as one of the three additional members in the expansion of the unicameral Legislative Council and was sworn-in two months later.
[1] When the new Legislative Council (the upper house of the new Parliament) was created in November 1856, Hodgson was elected a member for Central Province, a seat he held until August 1860.
At a public meeting in the Mechanics Institute in Collins Street, Hodgson with six others formed the Exploration Fund Raising Committee in August 1958.
Hodgson attended his last committee meeting on 23 July 1860, ten days before he died, and a couple of weeks before Burke and Willis left Melbourne on 20 August.
