John Fletcher is another of the early Gold Commissioners who has been difficult to identify because of a relatively common name and the short length of his Victorian Public Service career. Searching Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM) just resulted in too many John Fletchers.

On 18 August 1849, Fletcher was appointed one of six Commissioners for examining and reporting upon disputes regarding boundaries of runs in the Port Phillip District (Boundary Commissioner) [01]. As the only member of the Commissioner who was not already a Magistrate (Justice of the Peace), he was appointed such on 21 September 1849 [02].

Fletcher’s listing in the Blue Book 1851 [03] notes that his first appointment “under the Colonial Government” was on 7 November 1849. I am uncertain what this refers to as an appointment as a Magistrate (JP) is not considered a Civil Service appointment. It may refer to his appointment as a Commissioner, but that was on 18 August 1849.

Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip mentions Fletcher as “Commissioner of Disputed Boundaries, 1850: – WP [Western Port District] 1850-1” [04], which seems to suggest that he had property in the Western Port district.

Fletcher was appointed an Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Fields (Gold Commissioner) by Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe on 17 November 1851 [05]. The Blue Book 1851 has 28 November 1851. He was reappointed as Magistrate (Justice of the Peace) on 28 January 1852 [06].

It is interesting to note that Fletcher was briefly the highest paid Gold Commissioner. Francis Crossman Doveton had been the first man appointed a Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Districts. According to the Blue Book 1851, this was on 19 August 1851 at a salary of £300 per annum. From 11 November 1851, Doveton’s salary was reduced to £250 per annum. The Blue Book 1851 has Fletcher beginning on 28 November 1851 at a salary of £300 per annum.

He was appointed Police Magistrate for Castlemaine on 5 March 1852 [07]. The Geelong Advertiser noted that “The Lieutenant-Governor has appointed John Fletcher, Esq, JP, to be Police Magistrate at Castlemaine, but where Castlemaine is situate we cannot tell” [08]. Perhaps the Geelong Advertiser missed the 19 November 1851 declaration of “The Township of Castlemaine on the Forest Creek, Mount Alexander” as the location for a new Court of Petty Sessions [09].

By May 1852, Fletcher had resigned. The South Australian Register reported that: “Mr Shadforth, Police Magistrate at Kyneton, had been promoted to the Police Magistracy of Castlemaine, Forest Creek, vice Mr Fletcher, who had been compelled to resign in consequence of his dangerous illness” [10].

Fletcher does not appear in the Blue Book 1852 [11], even though he was still a Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Districts at the beginning of the year before being appointed a Police Magistrate.

It was the discovery of a pair of 1854 death notices that finally provided an anchor point. The Morton Bay Courier reported the death of John Fletcher: “On September 10, at the station of Robert Alexander, Esq, John Fletcher, Esq, late Chief Gold Commissioner, Victoria, aged 37 years” [12]. Well, he was certainly a Gold Commissioner, but not the Chief Gold Commissioner.

The Argus followed up with: “On the 9th September, at Moreton Bay, New South Wales, John Fletcher, Esq, late of Melbourne” [13].

The reference to Fletcher being the “late Chief Gold Commissioner” got me thinking. As noted above, Fletcher had been made the highest paid Gold Commissioner when appointed. I suspect that it was intended that Fletcher would be the Resident Commissioner on the Mount Alexander Gold Field at Forest Creek (Castlemaine). He was also appointed Police Magistrate at Castlemaine. Meanwhile, William Henry Wright was appointed Resident Commissioner on 18 February 1852, then promoted to Chief Commissioner from 1 May 1852.

A 1853 report blurs this a little [14]. John Pascoe Fawkner , a member of the Legislative Council, had requested a report on gold fields personnel on 10 December 1852. William Turner, an Assistant Gold Commissioner, had prepared this report on behalf of the Chief Commissioner (Wright), but the report was not tabled in Parliament and ordered to be printed until 27 September 1853.

The report includes a list titled “Return of all Officers appointed to act upon the various Gold Fields of this Colony, together with the Dates of their several Appointments and Removals, or Resignations, if any.” This is noted as being “Compiled from Returns furnished to the 15th December, 1852.” The report lists all officers up to the report date, even if they were no longer in the role.

Frederick Armand Powlett is listed as Acting Resident [Gold] Commissioner at Mount Alexander from 1 October 1851 and relieved on 18 February 1852. Powlett had been Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Western Port District of Victoria since 1840 (Port Phillip District of NSW to 30 June 1851 and Colony of Victoria from 1 July 1851). This district included the original gold fields of Ballarat, Mount Alexander (Castlemaine), and the Ovens (Beechworth). On 2 October 1851, he and the other Commissioners of Crown Lands were given the additional responsibility “to issue Licenses to dig and search for Gold within their respective Districts” [15]. This is quite separate from the role of “Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Districts/Fields,” though Turner’s report shows that Powlett was considered Acting Resident [Gold] Commissioner.

Wright is Acting Resident Commissioner at Mount Alexander from 18 February 1852, so relieved Powlett, who continued as Commissioner of Crown Lands. Wright was then promoted to Chief Commissioner as at 1 May 1852.

Doveton had been transferred from Ballarat to Mount Alexander on 7 November 1851 and demoted. He was succeeded by Alfred John Eyre. Fletcher was appointed to Mount Alexander on 28 November 1851. This latter date lines up with the date in the Blue Book 1851. Turner has Fletcher “Relieved 1st June 1852.”

Later, giving evidence to the Legislative Council’s Select Committee on the Gold Fields on 30 September 1853, Wright stated [16]:

So, rather than being the “late Chief Gold Commissioner,” Fletcher was, at least, the Commissioner in charge of the Mount Alexander gold field, as was Eyre for the Ballarat gold field. Eyre’s position as “Commissioner in charge, Ballaarat” is in a separate report to Parliament, also listing a “Return of the number of Gold Commissioners, their Names, dates of appointment, salaries and allowances, places where stationed, and nature of their general duties” [17]. Unlike the later Turner report, this one lists only those active at the date of the report, which seems to be 30 June 1852. Fletcher had already left, so is not listed. Both Fletcher and Eyre are listed as “Also Acting Police Magistrate” (as well as being Gold Commissioners) in Turner’s report to Fawkner.

See also Was Henry Edmund Pulteney Dana a Police Magistrate? for more on Turner’s report.