Joseph Mitchell (politician)

Joseph Earl Cherry Mitchell (22 July 1840 – 22 October 1897) was an English-born Australian politician and businessman.

[3] From around 1890 up to his death in 1897, Mitchell led efforts to form a syndicate of English capitalists, to set up an iron and steel works, and to win a contract to supply the N.S.W.

[4][5][6] His endeavours were complicated by both the lukewarm support of labour unions[4]—who were in favour of a state-owned iron and steel industry in New South Wales[7]—and the fraudulent efforts of Alfred John Lambert.

[10] Although Mitchell had earlier considered the Illawarra as a location for his iron and steel works, the final form of his proposal was that the works were to be sited adjacent to the (former) Pipers Flat railway station, near Wallerawang, and would have exploited nearby deposits of iron ore, limestone and coal.

Mitchell was first elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1881 as the member for Newtown, but he was defeated the following year.