William Jackson Barry (1819 – 23 April 1907) was a New Zealand adventurer and writer.

Barry prepared and exhibited the skeleton at a Nelson store, and then on tour, before arriving in Dunedin.

The Otago Daily Times reported that Barry opened the whale up to public inspection in a warehouse in St Andrews Street, even going so far as to hold a dinner party in its jaws.

By August 1883, Barry had sold the fin whale to Otago Museum, where it is still on display.

[3][4] Barry wrote a fantastical autobiography in 1878, Up and Down: Or, Fifty Years' Colonial Experiences in Australia, California, New Zealand, India, China, and the South Pacific; Being the Life History of Capt.