John Henry Monger was a Member of the Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

n Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 from 1870 to 1875, and again from 1890 to 1992.

Born in Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 in 1831, his father, also named John Henry Monger, was a prominent York

York, Western Australia

York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...

 merchant. His younger brother, Joseph Taylor Monger, would also become a York merchant and a Member of the Legislative Council. Monger spent much of his early life in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and again visited England in 1856-57, where he married Henrietta Joaquina Manning on 21 July 1857. They would have four sons and four daughters.

On returning to Western Australia, Monger established himself as a merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

 at York, competing against his father and brother. He later appointed Herman Moll

Herman Moll (convict)

Herman Joseph Moll was a convict transported to Western Australia. He was one of only four such convicts to be elected to the prestigious and respected position of member of a local Education Board.- Biography :...

 to manage his York business, while he expanded his business into other areas of the colony, including the goldfields, and opened a head office in Perth with his brothers. He partnered with George Shenton

George Shenton

Sir George Shenton was a prominent businessman in colonial Western Australia, the first Mayor of Perth, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for over thirty years.-Early and family life:...

 in the shipping

Shipping

Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...

 trade, and was interested in the sandalwood

Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...

 industry. Later he diversified into agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and pastoralism

Pastoralism

Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...

, holding large pastoral stations east of York, and in the South West, Pilbara

Pilbara region of Western Australia

The Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia known for its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore...

 and Kimberley region of Western Australia

Kimberley region of Western Australia

The Kimberley is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northern part of Western Australia, bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts, and on the east by the Northern Territory.The region...

 regions

Regions of Western Australia

Regionalisations of Western Australia are systems by which Western Australia is divided into distinct geographic regions. The most commonly known regionalisation is the governmental division of the state into regions for economic development purposes, of which there are nine.Other regionalisations...

. For some time he was in partnership with Aubrey Brown, a brother of Maitland

Maitland Brown

Maitland Brown was an explorer, politician and pastoralist in colonial Western Australia. He is best remembered as the leader of the La Grange expedition, which searched for and recovered the bodies of three white settlers murdered by Indigenous Australians, and subsequently killed a number of...

 and Kenneth Brown

Kenneth Brown

Kenneth Brown may refer to:*Kenneth Brown , playwright, actor, director and producer*Kenneth Brown , American peace studies academic*Kenneth Brown Kenneth Brown may refer to:*Kenneth Brown (playwright), playwright, actor, director and producer*Kenneth Brown (academic) (1933–2010), American peace...

. The two men selected over 100000 acres (404.7 km²) of land on the Gascoyne River

Gascoyne River

At 760 km, the Gascoyne River is the longest river in Western Australia.The river rises below Wilgoona Hill in the Robinson Ranges west of the Gibson Desert and it flows into Shark Bay and the Indian Ocean at Carnarvon....

, and also held a lease on Dirk Hartog Island

Dirk Hartog Island

Dirk Hartog Island is an island off the Gascoyne coast of Western Australia, within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. It is about 80 kilometres long and between 3 and 15 kilometres wide and is Western Australia's largest and most western island. It covers an area of 620 square kilometres and is...

. The partnership was dissolved in January 1888. Monger also became a foundation vice-president of the Western Australian Cricket Association

Western Australian Cricket Association

The Western Australian Cricket Association is the governing body for cricket in Western Australia.-History:The WACA was formed on 5 November 1885...

 (WACA).

When Western Australia obtained representative government in October 1870, Monger was elected to the Legislative Council. He held the position until his resignation in June 1875; his brother Joseph won the subsequent by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

. After Western Australia won responsible government

Responsible government

Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

 in 1890, the Legislative Council became a nominative upper house. On 24 December 1890, Monger was nominated to the Legislative Council by the governor

Governor of Western Australia

The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...

. He held the seat until his death at York on 23 February 1892.

Monger's son Frederick was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

Western Australian Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....

for twenty years.