James Patterson

Who was James Patterson?

Sir James Brown Patterson, KCMG, Australian colonial politician, was the 17th Premier of Victoria.

Patterson was born in 1833 at Patterson Cottage, Alnwick, Northumberland, England to James Patterson, contractor, and Agnes, née Brown. Patterson emigrated to Victoria in 1852 to seek his fortune on the goldfields. After a few years as a digger and four as a farmer, he settled in Chewton, where he went into business as a butcher, later moving into real estate. He was Mayor of Chewton for four years before he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Castlemaine in 1870.

A moderate conservative, Patterson served in the second third governments of the liberal leader Graham Berry, as Commissioner for Public Works in August 1875 and as Commissioner for Public Works and Vice-President of the Board of Land and Works in 1877–1880. From July 1878 to March 1880 he was also Postmaster-General. After 1881 he went into opposition, under the leadership of Duncan Gillies, and was Commissioner for Trade and Customs in the Gillies government from 1889 to 1890.