John Bexley Sedgers (died June 1969) was an Australian businessman. He spent much of his career in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, where he served in the Legislative Council from 1951 to 1954.

Biography

Sedgers joined W.R. Carpenter as a shipping clerk in 1917. After a spell working on its ''Mascot'' ship on the Australia–Solomon Islands route, he worked in

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...

in the Solomon Islands and then

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

in the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

. He later worked in Kavieng, Salamaua and Wau. Following the Japanese invasion, he and colleague B.B. Perriman were given responsibility for evacuating civilians from Wau. After around 180 people were airlifted, the remainder (including Sedgers) walked 200 miles to

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. He then went back to Australia, before returning to New Guinea in 1945, working in Madang. In 1951 he was appointed managing director and chairman of the New Guinea branch of Carpenters, moving to

. Prior to the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

to the new Legislative Council the same year, he was one of the three European members appointed to the body. He served in the council until the 1954 elections. He later became a member of the committee of Rabaul Turf Club.Some Lively Sport on Vulcan's Shoulder
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', October 1958, p153 After retiring in the early 1960s, he moved back to Australia. He died in June 1969, survived by his wife and three children.John Bexley Sedgers
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', July 1969, p125

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgers, John Bexley Australian businesspeople Territory of New Guinea people Territory of Papua and New Guinea people Members of the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea 1969 deaths