John Hay Goodlet (22 March 1835 – 13 January 1914) was a Scottish-born Australian timber merchant and philanthropist.

Life

Goodlet was born in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

to merchant George Goodlet and Mary Hay. He migrated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1852, working for a building firm until 1855, when he moved to Sydney. He imported timber from

Jervis Bay Jervis Bay () is a oceanic bay and village on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, said to possess the whitest sand in the world. A area of land around the southern headland of the bay is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia ...

, and entered a partnership with James Smith in 1859. On 3 May 1860 he married Ann Dickson, who would go on to be the third president of the

Young Women's Christian Association The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

's Australian branch in 1886. She was also the first President of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Association when it was created by 1891. John Goodlet had a sawmill in Erskine Street and later a brickworks at Granville, a pottery in

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surround ...

and two further mills. He was twice chairman of the

Australian Mutual Provident Society AMP is a financial services company in Australia and New Zealand providing superannuation and investment products, financial advice, and banking products (through AMP Banking) including home loans and savings accounts. Its headquarters is in Syd ...

, and was a railway commissioner from 1890 to 1891. He was also a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in the militia. Goodlet survived the 1893 bank crash with difficulty, but had recovered well and became known for charitable donations, including Sydney Hospital, the Benevolent Society and, most significantly, the Presbyterian church. He was a

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 ...

representative at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches and at the

1910 World Missionary Conference The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Prot ...

. His wife died in 1903 and on 3 February 1904 he married an enthusiastic Presbyterian named Elizabeth Mary Forbes who was the secretary of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Association when his first wife was President. Goodlet died, childless, in 1914. His nephew, Alfred Ingram Macfarlan (1861-1929), had come from Glasgow to join the business in 1900, serving as secretary for many years.The Sydney Morning Herald, Sep. 14, 1929, p. 11, "Obituary- Mr A. I. Macfarlan"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodlet, John 1835 births 1914 deaths Australian merchants People from Leith Australian timber merchants Scottish emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian philanthropists 19th-century Australian businesspeople