TitleSirGiven NamesJohnSurnameJamisonBiographySir John Jamison (1776-1844)
President Agricultural Society of New South Wales 1822; 1824 – 1836
Sir John Jamison was born in Ireland, the son of a First Fleet surgeon’s mate. Following in his father’s footsteps he became a naval physician. For his efforts in controlling a scurvy outbreak in the Swedish navy he was awarded a knighthood by the King of Sweden and later made knight bachelor by the Prince Regent.
Jamison arrived in Sydney in 1814 to attend to a portfolio of properties inherited from his father. He was a man of many interests and enthusiastically embraced colonial life and agricultural pursuits, developing his Penrith estate, Regentville, well-known as a country house and model property with a vineyard, an irrigation scheme and eventually a woollen mill.
Jamison was interested in cultivating grapes and in 1830 he reported that he had employed a German, Frederick Meyer to lay out a vineyard on the latest German and French lines - thought to be the first terraced vineyard in the colony. An early description of the vineyard stated that it was 'enclosed by hedges of the china rose and lemon... containing 30,000 to 40,000 vines representing over 200 varieties.'
Jamison was elected unopposed as the founding president of the Agricultural Society but resigned shortly after over a difference with Governor Brisbane. When re-elected in 1824, he worked energetically for the Society and the promotion of scientific farming in the colony.
A public-spirited person, he was also a founder of Sydney College and the Sydney Turf Club and belonged to many other organisations including the Australian Museum and the Botanical Gardens committee.
