The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Neales, Hon. John Bentham
Neales, Hon. John Bentham, M.L.C., emigrated to South Australia in June 1838, and successfully established himself as an auctioneer in Adelaide. In 1851 he was returned to the partially elective Legislative Council for North Adelaide, and took a prominent part in opposition to the scheme for the State endowment of the religious bodies. Having been re-elected he sat in the Council until responsible government was conceded, when he was returned to the first Legislative Assembly, in 1857, as one of the members for Adelaide. He was member for The Burra from 1865 to 1868, and in 1871 was elected to the new Legislative Council. He was Minister of Lands in the Hanson Government from June to July 1859, and in that of Mr. Hart from Nov. 1865 to March 1866. He died at Glenelg on July 31st, 1873, at the age of sixty-seven.