John Melton Black managed a vast pastoral property for Captain Robert Towns, whom he talked into sponsoring the establishment of a settlement that became known as Townsville. He was a major force in the town, working as surveyor, builder, storekeeper, shipping agent, and stockman, before becoming Townsville's first mayor and later its newspaper editor.
After persuading James Thorburn Brown to establish The Cleveland Bay Herald in Townsville, Black launched and edited The Cleveland Bay Express in 1866. In 1867 he sold out his Townsville interests and sailed to England, where he is believed to have died in 1880.
Source: Rod Kirkpatrick. Sworn to No Master: A History of the Provincial Press to 1930 (1984).
