James Walker (New South Wales politician)

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James Walker (1 November 1785 – 24 November 1856) was a Scottish-born Australian politician. He arrived in New South Wales in September 1823 with the Royal Marine Artillery and soon went into business as a merchant, partnering with his brother William and two nephews in William Walker & Company, which dealt with coastal shipping and whaling. He was granted 2000 acres at Wallerawang and settled there in 1824. In 1831 he traveled to London with his brother and they founded Walker Bros. & Company, exporting large quantities of wool to London in the late 1830s. In the 1840s he joined the squatting movement and acquired extensive land holdings: by 1854 he owned sixteen runs totaling about 256,000 acres in the Bligh District, four runs totaling about 70,500 acres in the Wellington District, and Baradean, 19,840 acres on the Liverpool Plains. In May 1856 he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council. He died on 24 November 1856 in Sydney, aged about 71. He was the eldest son of Archibald Walker, Laird of Edenshead, Fife, Scotland, and Isabel Walker. He married Robina Walker in 1832; his younger brother William was also a prominent merchant in early Sydney.