The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/West, Rev. John
West, Rev. John, was born in 1808, and emigrated to Tasmania in 1839, where he officiated as an Independent minister at Launceston for sixteen years. He was the head and front of the Anti-Transportation movement, and originated the League which the determination of Lord Grey to resume the despatch of convicts called into being. In 1851 he and Mr. Weston attended the great conference held in Melbourne, at which the representatives of the various Australian colonies entered into a solemn engagement to resist the influx of European criminals by every means in their power. The death-blow was thus given to the system. Mr. West removed to New South Wales in Nov. 1855, and joined the Sydney Morning Herald as chief of their literary staff, and continued to be editor until his death, on Dec. 11th, 1873. Mr. West was the author of the "History of Tasmania," published at Launceston in two volumes in 1852.