James Pye was an Australian orchardist and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 for one term between 1856 and 1857.

Early life

Pye was the son of a pioneer Australian orchardist. After an elementary education he joined his father's business and eventually had large orchards in the Field of Mars and Seven Hills

Seven Hills, New South Wales

Seven Hills is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Seven Hills is located 34 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Blacktown. Seven Hills is part of the Greater Western Sydney region...

 district. He founded the Cumberland Agricultural Society in 1857 and was active in the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales

Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales

The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales is an Agricultural society based in New South Wales, Australia. They run many of the agricultural shows around New South Wales including the Sydney Royal Easter Show....

. Pye was the patron of numerous organisations in the Parramatta

Parramatta, New South Wales

Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...

 region including the National School Board. He was an alderman on Parramatta Municipality between 1861 and 1884 and Mayor in 1866-7.

State Parliament

In 1856 Pye was elected as one of the two members for Cumberland (North Riding)

Electoral district of Cumberland (North Riding)

Cumberland was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1856 to 1859, in Cumberland County, which includes Sydney...

 in the first New South Wales Legislative Assembly under responsible government. In parliament he was noted for his attacks on the luxurious living of the working class, noting that "not one in twenty was worth employing and the native born were particularly idle". At the 1858 election he was a candidate for Parramatta

Electoral district of Parramatta

Parramatta is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Geoff Lee of the Liberal Party of Australia....

where he was comprehensively beaten.