John Richard Hardy

John Richard Hardy (18 May 1807 – 21 April 1858) was an English-born Australian pastoralist and gold commissioner.

He was educated at Charterhouse School, then went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1826 but moved to Peterhouse in the following year.

He supported the accessibility of gold found on private land, but was accused of giving preference to his brother and also, erroneously, of appropriating funds.

A Legislative Council select committee found him "of a character wholly incompatible" with holding his office in 1852 and he was forced into retirement.

He published a pamphlet on goldfield issues in 1855, and in 1857 was a founding member of the Yass Mechanics' Institute.