John Frederick Barnes (1838 – 21 April 1915) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to storekeeper John Barnes and Elizabeth Ellen King. The family emigrated to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and settled at Little River, a small sheep station near

Yass Yass may refer to: People * Catherine Yass (born 1963), painter * Yazz, a British pop singer from the 1980s and 1990s * Jeff Yass (born 1956), options trader, managing director and one of the five founders of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna I ...

. Young John attended Burwood Denominational School until the age of fourteen, when he went to the

Turon River Turon River, a perennial stream that is part of the Macquarie catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central western district of New South Wales, Australia. Partly situated in the Turon National Park, the river is host t ...

gold rush. After trying unsuccessfully at

Ophir Ophir (; ) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon received a shipment from Ophir every three years (1 Kings 10:22) which consisted of gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Biblica ...

and Abercrombie, he returned to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to be apprenticed to a cabinet maker. After another abortive attempt on the goldfields, he worked as a salesman. In 1860 he married Jane Marshall in Sydney; they would have seven children. In 1861 Barnes went to the goldfields at Lambing Flat to support the family store at

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

; Barnes and his younger brother took over the business in 1875. He was also the local hotelier and postmaster, and was Cootamundra's first mayor in 1884. In 1887 he retired from business and turned his attention to politics, winning election to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

in 1889 as the

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

member for

Gundagai Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...

. He served in that capacity until the reduction in the Assembly's size in 1904, when he was defeated running for

. Barnes then retired from public life and moved to

, dying at

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD and is part of the St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of the local government area of the Georges Riv ...

in 1915.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, John 1838 births 1915 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Protectionist Party politicians