John Morgan was appointed store-keeper for the Swan River colony in Western Australia in 1828 and arrived on the Parmelia in 1829. While living in the colony he corresponded with the under-secretary at the British Colonial Office, Robert William Hay (1786-1861), describing the colony's progress. Hay's influence lead to Morgan being appointed police magistrate at Richmond, Van Diemen's Land, and he left the Swan River colony arriving in Richmond in 1834. Debts from his time at Swan River lead Morgan to abandon hope of obtaining official posts in the colonies and he turned to farming and then journalism.
John Morgan's career in the Australian colonial press is described by Michael Roe in Roe's entry for Morgan in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. 'He was foundation editor of the Hobart Town Advertiser (1839), worked briefly on the Tasmanian, [and] then began the Tasmanian Weekly Dispatch (1839-41). Meanwhile he had become secretary of the Hobart Mechanics' Institute, and of the Licensed Victuallers' Society, in whose interest he edited the Morning Advertiser [and Colonial Maritime Journal] (1841) and issued two directories (1840, 1847). ... In 1846-51 he edited the Britannia and Trades' Advocate and for the next two years was secretary of the Hobart School of Arts.'
Source: Michael Roe, 'Morgan, John (1792-1866)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/morgan-john-2479/text3331, accessed 21 January 2013.
