# John Murtagh MacRossan

John Murtagh MacRossan (BET 1832 AND 1833 – 30 MAR 1891); married Bridget Queely; parent of 7 children; died in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

**Lifespan:** BET 1832 AND 1833 – 30 MAR 1891

## Spouses
- [Bridget Queely](/p/bridget-queely-59133.md) — m. 1874

## Children
- [Neal William MacRossan](/p/neal-william-macrossan-52468.md)
- [John Michael MacRossan](/p/john-michael-macrossan-59134.md)
- [Hugh Denis MacRossan](/p/hugh-denis-macrossan-59135.md)
- [Brian Cornelius MacRossan](/p/brian-cornelius-macrossan-59136.md)
- [Francis Neal MacRossan](/p/francis-neal-macrossan-59137.md)
- [Charles Patrick MacRossan](/p/charles-patrick-macrossan-59138.md)
- [Vincent Eugene James MacRossan](/p/vincent-eugene-james-macrossan-59139.md)

## Timeline
- BET 1832 AND 1833 — **Born**
- FROM 1853 — **Occupation (Goldminer)** — Arrived at Melbourne in 1853 and worked as a miner in Victoria, and probably in New South Wales and New Zealand, before 1865, by which date he was on the North Queensland goldfields. Wikipedia records that he moved to the colony of Victoria at the age of 21 to work on the gold diggings and twelve years later moved to North Queensland, where he became well known among the miners. No place is attached because the workings spanned several colonies.
- 1871 — **Organiser, Ravenswood Miners' Protection Association** at Ravenswood, Queensland, Australia — Organised the Ravenswood Miners' Protection Association, which petitioned the minister for the removal of the field warden. In the same year he was convicted in the Townsville court of having assaulted the warden, T. R. Hackett, whom he had publicly horsewhipped. The Australian Dictionary of Biography dates the association to 1871; the Wikipedia article dates it to 1873.
- FROM 25 NOV 1873 TO 28 NOV 1878 — **Member for Kennedy, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Returned in November 1873 to the Queensland Legislative Assembly for one of the newly constituted seats for the Kennedy electorate, a North Queensland mining district. He championed regulation of the mining industry and the separation of North Queensland as a separate colony. After some years as an independent he threw in his lot with Thomas McIlwraith. He was defeated in the 1878 elections after a last-minute decision to contest a doubtful seat.
- FROM 21 JAN 1879 TO MAR 1883 — **Secretary for Public Works and Mines, Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Held the portfolio of works and mines in the first and second McIlwraith ministries from 21 January 1879, resigning from the ministry in March 1883. His first actions in 1879 were to introduce economy and order into the railways. In 1881, at his third attempt, he carried the first mining regulations in Queensland.
- FROM 4 MAR 1879 TO 30 MAR 1891 — **Member for Townsville, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Elected for Townsville in March 1879, some weeks after being given a ministerial portfolio while out of the Assembly. He held the seat until his death in 1891.
- FROM JUN 1888 TO AUG 1890 — **Secretary for Mines, Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Returned to office under McIlwraith in June 1888, holding the mines portfolio until the government resigned in August 1890. He was responsible for two mining Acts; the 1888 Act emphasised employer liability in cases of accident and included inspection by workers' representatives. Wikipedia dates the regulations providing for inspection by representatives of the miners to 1889.
- FROM JAN 1890 TO AUG 1890 — **Colonial Secretary of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Added the portfolio of colonial secretary to that of mines in January 1890, in the Morehead government, holding it until the government resigned in August 1890.
- FEB 1890 — **Delegate, Australasian Federation Conference** at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia — Attended, with Sir Samuel Griffith, the conference on Federation called by Sir Henry Parkes at Melbourne in February 1890.
- OCT 1890 — **Motion for the separation of North Queensland** at Queensland, Australia — Brought forward a motion in the Legislative Assembly for the separation of the north. Premier Samuel Griffith moved an amendment that it was desirable to have separate legislative authorities in southern, northern and central Queensland, which was carried. The motion was lost by 26 votes to 32.
- 1891 — **Delegate, National Australasian Convention** at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia — One of the Queensland representatives to the first Constitutional Convention, the National Australasian Convention held at Sydney in 1891, chosen to accompany Sir Samuel Griffith. In the convention debates he was noted for his knowledge and admiration of American precedent. He died in Sydney four weeks after the convention opened.
- 1891 — **Buried** at Nudgee, Queensland, Australia — Buried at Nudgee, Queensland, following a funeral at St Stephen's Cathedral. He had been suffering from heart disease for some years and died of an attack of bronchitis during the 1891 convention in Sydney. The exact date of burial is not given by the sources.
- 30 MAR 1891 — **Died** at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- **Occupation (Newspaper proprietor)** — Controlled the Northern Advocate and Miners' Journal for some time and was rumoured to have other newspaper interests in the north. No dates are recorded by the source.

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