"We threw in our lot with the denominationalists, and fought for the rights of conscience. The two other issues we put before the electorate were the crediting of the annual rent payable to the Crown by selectors in payment of the purchase money, and the policy of protection. The former would help to settle people on the land and the latter to convert N.S.W. into a manufacturing country. The policy which we advocated is now the policy of not only N.S.W. but all Australia.
"These were the days of the roaring camp when Timora Gold Field broke out. There were upwards of 10,000 miners in the field of whom few, unfortunately for us, had votes. We had their sympathy, their substantial help, and their regrets when we were defeated at the ballot box by a very small majority."
For John Henniker Heaton this was a disappointment that was to have far-reaching results. It turned his thoughts to England, and a parliamentary career that might be open for him in his native country as member for a Kentish constituency.
In 1883 he represented New South Wales as Commissioner at the Amsterdam Exhibition; he also represented Tasmania at the Berlin International Telegraphic Conference, where he succeeded in getting a very large reduction in the cost of cable messages to Australia. He was appointed Commissioner for New South Wales at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London in 1886, and throughout his life he never ceased to forward Australian interests. "The Member for Australia" was a name conferred on him.
The year 1884 saw him and his family settled in London, which was henceforth to be their home.
At the General Election of 1885, John Henniker
