John Alexander MacPherson

Who was John Alexander MacPherson?

John Alexander MacPherson, Australian colonial politician, was the 7th Premier of Victoria.

MacPherson was born at his father's property of Springbank on the Limestone Plains, in New South Wales: he was the first Premier of Victoria born in Australia. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian pastoralist. He came to the Port Phillip District as a child with his family and was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and Edinburgh University, where he graduated in law. He was admitted to the Victorian bar in 1866 and practised law before becoming a pastoralist near Hamilton in the Western District.

MacPherson was elected as a conservative to the Legislative Assembly for Portland in November 1864, and for Dundas in February 1866. In September 1869, when the liberal Premier James McCulloch resigned, MacPherson was commissioned as Premier. His government was in a weak parliamentary position and had little prospect of survival. But it did succeed in passing an effective land selection act, allowing small farmers to select land on the squatters' pastoral runs, before being defeated in the Assembly and resigning in April 1870.