James William Robertson (1826 – 23 January 1876) was the first mayor of Queenstown, New Zealand. He was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, British North America. His father owned a sawmill and he worked in the lumber trade. He was drawn to the gold rush in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. He set up with others and they spent three years using a water race, flume, galvanised piping and other methods. Eventually, Robertson and some others travelled to the Shotover near Queenstown and saw the gold mining opportunities there. He set up a company with Dan and Frank McBride and Thos Hicks. They were timber millers at Kinloch, ship builders (including the Antrim), they built wharves at Queenstown, Frankton and Kingston. They owned land including large areas of the Frankton Flat. Bendix Hallenstein