John Murray (pastoralist)
| John Murray | |
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John Murray, May 1901
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| Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Normanby |
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In office 19 May 1888 – 1 March 1901 |
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| Preceded by | John Stevenson |
| Succeeded by | George Fox |
| Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
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In office 12 March 1901 – 13 November 1903 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
John Murray 15 August 1837 Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland |
| Died | 18 November 1917 (aged 80) Longreach, Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Toowong Cemetery |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Political party | Ministerialist |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Elizabeth Hartley (m. 1873 d. 1877), Margaret McGavin (m. 1882) |
| Occupation | Grazier, Sugarcane farmer |
John Murray (15 August 1837 – 18 November 1917) was a pastoralist and politician in Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and the Queensland Legislative Council.
Born in Mauchline in Ayrshire to coachman Peter Murray and Jean, née Witherspoon, he was educated locally and emigrated to the Victorian goldfields around 1852. In 1862 he and his brothers established a cattle shipping business in New South Wales, operating between Newcastle and New Zealand, although the latter's prohibition of cattle imports in 1864 due to pleuropneumonia in Australia ended the venture. In December of that year Murray relocated to Rockhampton, selecting around 2,000 acres (810 ha) of land and growing sugarcane from 1872.
On 1 September 1873, Murray married Jane Elizabeth Hartley; they had three children, but Jane died in 1877. On 3 January 1882 Murray married Margaret McGavin, with whom he had four children
John Murray was an early member of the Gogango Divisional Board, serving as chairman on three occasions.
In 1888 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Normanby, supporting Thomas McIlwraith's group. He resigned from parliament in November 1903 to contest the Australian Senate, but he was unsuccessful. During the campaign Murray described Labor's control of the balance of power in the Australian Parliament as "government from the gutter". His own politics were largely conservative, although he long prevaricated on the issue of separation for Central Queensland.
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