John Pascoe Fawkner arrived in Australia with his parents in 1803; his father, a silver refiner, had been sentenced to 14 years transportation for receiving stolen goods. The Fawkners were first sent to the infant settlement at Port Phillip, and when that colony was abandoned, they were resettled in Van Diemen's Land. In 1814, while trading as a baker, Fawkner became involved in a plan to help seven convicts (including his father) escape by boat to South America, which led to his being sentenced to 500 lashes and three years hard labour. He was subsequently sent to Newcastle by Lieutenant-Governor Davey for 'committing some atrocious Robberies and Depredations' (qtd. in ADB).
Fawkner returned to Tasmania in 1816 and reopened his bakery in Hobart. His business prospered, but he had further trouble with the authorities, and about 1822 Fawkner relocated to Launceston. It was here that, among other business ventures, Fawkner first became involved with the newspaper press. He acquired the Launceston Advertiser from Andrew Bent, publishing his first issue - which advertised Fawkner's hotel and his Circulating Library - on 9 February 1829. As the paper's editor, Fawkner became embroiled in a bitter quarrel with the editor of the Cornwall Press, another Launceston newspaper begun contemporaneously with the Advertiser. In his conduct of this dispute, he displayed what James Bonwick has called Fawkner's characteristic 'impulsive energy, and bedouin-like combativeness' (38).
In 1835 Fawkner sailed for the mainland of Australia with an expedition interested in forming a settlement on the southern coast. He eventually settled large areas of land around Port Phillip, and is considered to be one of the founding fathers of Melbourne. From 1838, Fawkner published Victoria's first newspaper, The Melbourne Advertiser. The first issues were handwritten, until a press could be brought from Tasmania. The original Advertiser was suppressed as it had no license, but by February 1839 Fawkner had managed to secure a license, and launched his renamed Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser;
the paper was run in conjunction with a bookselling and circulating library business, which were among Fawkner's many business interests. Fawkner was also editor of the Patriot until April 1840, when he handed the management over to J. Pridham Smith. Fawkner continued as the proprietor of the Patriot until the paper was sold to George Darley Boursiquot in 1846.
(Sources: Austrailan Dictionary of Biography and James Bonwick, Early Struggles of the Australian Press (1890): 37-39, 61-63.)
