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Former Member Details

Mr James WALKER (1785 - 1856)

Member Photo
Date of Birth: 01/01/1785
Place of Birth: Scotland
Date of Death: 24/11/1856
Place of Death: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Parliamentary Service
Position Start End Period Notes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council 22 May 1856 24 Nov 1856 6 months 3 days Quinquennial appointment under the Constitution Act; Date of Writ of Summons 13 May 1856
Political Party Activity
Community Activity
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Joined the Royal Marine Artillery and arrived in Sydney in September 1823 as an officer on half-pay and a shareholder with his brother William Walker and two nephews in William Walker & Company; merchants, coastal shippers and whalers. Was soon granted 2000 acres at Wallerawang and settled there in 1824. Visited London with his brother in 1831, founding Walker Bros. & Company; in which in the late 1830s exported large quantities of wool to London. In the 1840s joined the squatting rush, acquiring large holdings. In 1854 his interests included sixteen runs totalling 256,000 acres in the Bligh District, four runs totalling 70,500 acres in the Wellington District, and Baradean, 19,840 acres on the Liverpool Plains.
Military Service
Honours Received
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Personal
Eldest son of Archibald Walker, Laird of Edenshead, Fife, and merchant of Perth, Scotland, and his second wife Isabel Walker, daughter of the Laird of Falfield. Married Robina Walker in 1832. Presbyterian.
Additional Information
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, p. 566 B. H. Crew, 'The History of the Walker and Archer Families in Australia, 1813 - 1868', MA Thesis, Australian National University, 1963