John Pascoe Fawkner (1792-1869), sometimes called the 'Founder of Melbourne', was a pioneer and adventurer. The self-educated son of a convict who prospered, he spent his early years in Van Diemen's Land. Here, as an adult, he pursued a variety of occupations from baker to bush lawyer, and was often in trouble with the law, usually because of debts but in 1814 for abetting an attempted escape by convicts. Having been involved in a variety of business ventures, both legitimate and not, he became a hotelier in 1824. Four years later he launched the Launceston Advertiser and edited it for the next two years, championing the emancipist class and attacking officialdom. In 1835 he organised an expedition to what is now Melbourne. Landing in Hobson's Bay, Fawkner soon became a man of property and influence, running a hotel and establishing the Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser. Through this organ, and as a member of the Legislative Council from its introduction in 1851 until his death, Fawkner railed against the privileged squattocracy to earn a reputation as 'the tribune of the people' and the status of the 'grand old man' of the colony by the time of his death in 1869.
