John Haynes

Who was John Haynes?

John Haynes was a parliamentarian in New South Wales, Australia for five months short of thirty years, and co-founder, with J. F. Archibald, of The Bulletin.

Haynes was born in Singleton, New South Wales, son of John Haynes, schoolteacher, and his wife Margaret, née Daly. He was apprenticed as a compositor with the Morpeth Leader and worked for several country newspapers. In 1871, he married Sarah Belford and they had five sons and one daughter. In 1873, he moved to Sydney. In 1880 he founded the Bulletin with Archibald and in 18 months built its circulation in up to 15,000. He believed in serious provocative journalism, especially exposure articles and as the result of one article was sued by the owner of the Clontarf pleasure gardens. He refused to pay the costs of the resulting libel action and was imprisoned for six weeks in 1882.

In 1887, Haynes stood for Mudgee, as a supporter of the Free Trade Party, led by Henry Parkes, which tended to be associated with Protestants. During the campaign, in fact, he repudiated his Roman Catholic faith, which led to lasting bitterness with Protectionists. He was elected and held Mudgee to 1894.