John Frazer (politician)

Frazer was born at Dromore in County Down to John Frazer and Sarah Waddell. He migrated to New South Wales in 1842, becoming first a squatter and then a clerk. In 1847 he opened a grocery in Sydney. He married Elizabeth Ewan, with whom he had four children, in 1853.[1]

Frazer took his brother-in-law into partnership in 1859. In the 1860s he was involved in land speculation and acquired several properties.[2]

In 1862–1863, he was one of four prominent new shareholders that reformed the company operating the Fitzroy Iron Works at Mittagong.[3] After this venture failed, he was instrumental in interesting English capitalists in investing in the Mittagong works.[4] Frazer paid £10,000 to the bank in 1872, clearing the debts of the works. The new company issued its prospectus in April 1873.[5] It was controlled by English interests, with Frazer being a shareholder.

He was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1874 and served there until his death in 1884.[2]

The last twenty years of Frazer's life were spent at Ranelagh, a three-storey, Italianate mansion in Darling Point Road, Darling Point. Ranelagh was demolished in 1967 and replaced with a high-rise apartment block also called Ranelagh.[6]

Frazer and the members of his family were interred in a sandstone mausoleum in Rookwood Cemetery. It was built in 1894 along the lines specified by Frazer before his death. The doors bear his initials and those of his wife: JF and EF.