JONES, John Trevor (1830-1921) — Melbourne
Lithographer, surveyor, artist & engineer. Lithographed, for the Victoria Surveyor General’s Office, The parish of Nunawading in the county of Bourke 1853; Township of Footscray parish of Cut Paw Paw 1854; Electoral district of the Ovens 1855; Joshua Green, Suburban allotments at Navarre Wattle Creek 1855; Frederick Byerley, Subdivision of allotments in the parish of Duneed on Armstrongs Creek 1855; B. Hall, Part of the parish of Yering 1855; Charles Pasley, an untitled chart showing the route of proposed canal between Hobsons Bay and the Yarra river 1855, to accompany the Colonial Engineer’s Report; J. G. W. Wilmott, Suburban & country lands at Longwood, Winding Creek Sydney Road 1855; Charles J. W. Russell, Lands lying between the River Campaspe & Bendigo Creek 1855; M. J. Campbell, The township of Rosedale with the Agricultural Reserve adjoining on the Latrobe River, Gippsland 1855; James R. Shaw, Suburban & country lands in the parish of Crowlands on the Wimmera River 1855; Robert M. Harvey, Country lots near Creswick parish of Spring Hills 1855; W. H. Burgoyne, Chart of the north end of King Island Bass Strait, Australasia 1855; Country lands in the parish of Bruthen on the road from the sawpits to Bruthen Creek Gipps Land 1856; George Hastings, The village of Bruthen on Bruthen Creek Gipps Land 1856, etc.
Born in Ruthin, Denbighshire, in 1830, the son of Daniel Jones, a stonemason, and his wife Mary. Trained in lithography in Liverpool and working there in 1851, lodging with a sister-in-law, his mother and an older brother Daniel Jones (1824-1887), an engraver, printer, and later a photographer. He emigrated to Melbourne aged twenty-two and worked for a time for Thomas Ham. He carried out some lithography for the Department of Public Lands in 1853 and was soon put in charge of lithography at the Surveyor General’s Department. He was dismissed following a fight with Robert Meikle in 1857. He was then briefly in partnership with John Flanagan practising as architects and surveyors until the partnership was formally dissolved 17 May 1859. He then became a lithographic draughtsman in the Railways Department, transferring to the Water Supply Department in Dec 1865. He married Harriet Goldie (1839-1900) at Richmond, Victoria, 11 Apr 1861. He passed an examination for competency as an engineer and surveyor under the Shires and Boroughs Statute in 1871 (one of only two of twenty candidates to do so). He exhibited at the Victorian Academy of Arts 1875-1878 and became City Engineer to Sydney (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Feb 1879), later joining the Board of Water Supply 26 Mar 1888 and becoming much engaged in problems of water supply to the growing city. He retired in 1893 due to his failing eyesight, having lost one eye some years earlier, but continued to advise on matters relating to water supply. He was badly injured when run over by a tram in 1901, later suing the tram company for £1,500 damages and eventually being awarded £600. He died aged ninety-one and was buried 9 Sep 1921 at St. Thomas, North Sydney. “The death occurred on Thursday at Kirribilli Point of Mr. John Trevor-Jones, who many years ago occupied the position of engineer to the Sydney City Council. He was 91 years of age. The late Mr. John Trevor-Jones was born in Wales in 1830, and came to Australia at the age of 22. He lived in Melbourne until 1884, when he settled in Sydney, where he occupied the position of city engineer and afterwards of engineer to the Water Board, which he resigned owing to being partially deprived of his sight. The deceased gentleman was well known in the artistic world for his water-colour sketches. He took a keen interest in science, and was a member of the Royal Society. He has left a family of four sons and one daughter” (Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Sep 1921). Probate on an estate of £2,531.0s.4d was granted 6 Apr 1922.
74 Stanley Street, Liverpool (home) — 1851
49 Collins Street West, Melbourne — 1857
Lennox Street, Richmond (home) — 1864-1867
Census 1841-1851. DAAO. NLA. Tooley. Trove.