John Strachan (1846 – 30 August 1922) was a Scottish-born Australian shipmaster and explorer. Born in Montrose,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, to engineer John Strachan and Sarah, ''née'' Delarne, Strachan's family moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1853 where he studied engineering before running away to sea, fighting for the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, sailing on the trade routes from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to Japan, whaling in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

, advising the Prince of Higo in Japan, and managing guano workings on

Baker Island Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is H ...

. He arrived in

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on 25 April 1872 as mate of the ''Rita'', and on 3 March 1875 married Alice Sarah Henrietta Plummer at Launceston. He worked at Bird Island in the Coral Sea managing more guano workings and visited

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

in September 1875. Subsequently Strachan established himself in Sydney before becoming

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

correspondent for the '' Age'', embarking on an exploratory trip down the Mai Kassa River on 6 May 1884 which resulted in considerable fighting with the indigenous people and the death of one of Strachan's companions; his use of an improvised

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

provoked widespread condemnation in Sydney. He went on another expedition to the Mai Kassa and the

Gulf of Papua The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...

in September but in January 1886 his claim of discovery was disallowed for 500,000 acres of the area he explored. In 1887 he appealed to the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

, which dismissed his claim as "excitable and rather ignorant". After exploring McClure's Gulf in 1887 from a base in Cape York he published ''Explorations and Adventures in New Guinea'' in 1888, which was poorly received by geographers. He based himself in Sydney again in 1889 and established trading operations in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

and the Dutch East Indies. He successfully sued the Launceston ''Daily Telegraph'' in 1896 for £2000 after it published a story about his early life. Strachan ran unsuccessfully for the

New South Wales Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

against Billy Hughes in 1898 (he appears as "Captain Alistair" in Hughes' 1947 book ''Crusts and Crusades''), but in November 1902 was imprisoned for debt in North Borneo. In 1903 he again tried to enter politics, this time running against Joseph Cook for the federal seat of

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

without success. He unsuccessfully sued the Commonwealth in 1906 for detention of his ship at

Daru Daru is the capital of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and a former Catholic bishopric. Daru town falls under the jurisdiction of Daru Urban LLG. The township is entirely located on an island that goes by the same name, which is loc ...

in Papua, and was charged with illegal recruiting by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

in New Guinea in 1909. He subsequently retired, although he was active in anti-German organisations during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and ran for the state seat of

in 1917, garnering only 26 votes. He died in Sydney of chronic

cystitis A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidney ...

in 1922.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, John 1846 births 1922 deaths Australian explorers Scottish emigrants to Australia People from Montrose, Angus Union Army soldiers