William Archer (10 February 1831 – 6 July 1925) 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 John and Eliza Archer, and was a pageboy at

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...

before joining the navy. He arrived in

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 ...

in 1857 and went to the gold rush at

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

. He then returned to New South Wales and became a horse trader at Clarendon, then joining an ironmongers' company in the 1860s and finally becoming a railway contractor. From 1874 to 1920 he served on

Burwood Council The Municipality of Burwood (also known as Burwood Council) is a local government area in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Mayor of the Municipality is Cr. John Faker, a member of the Labor Party. T ...

with two periods as mayor (1879–82, 1912–13). During the 1890 maritime strike he contracted to the government from the

Mount Kembla Mount Kembla is a suburb and a mountain in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb, a semi-rural township of Wollongong, gets its name from the mountain, located on the Illawarra escarpment, is derived from an Aborig ...

coal mine. Archer was a member of 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 ...

from 1898 to 1904, representing Burwood; he was generally an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

member, although he had some dealings with both the

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

and Progressive parties. He died at Burwood in 1925.

References

1831 births 1925 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub