Family background
Alexander Graham was born in 1830 in Scotland, the second son of Archibald Graham and Elisabeth McEwan. He arrived in Sydney in 1838 aboard the Duncan. He married Susanna Simpson, the youngest daughter of George Simpson, of Campbelltown, in the Congregational Church, Redfern, in 1856. They had four children – three daughters and a son, two of whom pre-deceased them. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, died in 1882 aged 24 years, just over a year after her marriage to Richard Cary, while their son, Archibald, a carpenter, died in 1889.
Occupation & interests
From the 1850s to the early 1880s Graham was a builder, first in Glebe and then later in Redfern. By the late 1880s he was the licensee of the Belmore Arms Hotel, George Street, Redfern, being fined several times for supplying liquor ‘during prohibited hours’. In September 1888 the license was transferred to Robert Halliday.
Community activity
Graham was involved, as a citizen, in both local and colonial government activities in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1856 he supported the nomination of Daniel Cooper to represent the Sydney Hamlets in the new colonial parliament. In 1860 he chaired a meeting, in Glebe, regarding the land bill before the parliament, and in 1862 chaired a meeting of electors, of the Glebe Municipality, for the purpose of choosing someone to represent the Bishopthorpe ward in the forthcoming council elections.
Local government service
In March 1882 Graham was elected alderman to the recently created Golden Grove Ward, Redfern, serving until 1885.
References
‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 1856, p. 8, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12976363
‘Family Notices’, Empire, 31 August 1868, p. 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60856654
‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 April 1881, p. 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28385255
‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 June 1882, p. 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28380382
‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 March 1889, p. 10, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13718335
‘Police’, Daily Telegraph, 9 February 1887, p. 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236756979
‘Police’, Daily Telegraph, 1 February 1888, p. 7, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239334719
‘Licensing Court’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 1888, p. 6, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13695615
‘Advertising’, Sydney Morning Herald, 22 January 1856, p. 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12977089
‘Land Bill meeting at the Glebe’, Empire, 31 October 1860, p. 5, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60500920
Empire, 3 February 1862, p. 4, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60509057
‘Borough of Darlington’, Evening News, 6 March 1882, p. 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107986051