He left for Adelaide with his parents in the Prestonjee Bonanjee and arrived on 4 October 1838. His father, Joshua Fisher, opened a grocery store at the corner of Hindley and Morphett Streets. Joseph was educated at the Oddfellows School where James Wardlaw Disher was Classics master. In 1840 he started work as a clerk in the Tavistock Street office of the merchant Anthony Forster, who, on the death of Fisher's father in 1841 became his guardian.
Newspapers
In 1848 Forster bought a half share of John Stephens' newspapers The South Australian Register and The Observer, and gave Fisher a job in the newspaper's office. In those days every employee was involved in other aspects of getting the newspaper out. For Fisher that meant working the press, folding and bundling the papers as well as keeping the books. After three months Forster took no part in the day-to-day business of the paper. In May 1853 Fisher became part-owner and business manager. The Register was, under Stephens, a crusading paper, with a campaign against some injustice almost every week. This won respect for the paper, but cost it advertisers. When Stephens died in 1850, John Taylor took over his share of the business. On 30 September 1865 Fisher sold his share of the business to John Howard Clark.
Other Business
Fisher then concentrated on his activity as Adelaide agent of several businesses, notably that of John Ridley. Fisher was director of the Bank of Adelaide for around 20 years, a director of the South Australian Gas Company and a director of the South Australian Company. Fisher was part-owner of the clipper Hesperus and had shares in two large sheep stations. Fisher was chairman of the Port AdelaideDry Dock Company. and a director of Adelaide Marine and Fire Assurance. Fisher was a director of The Mortgage Company of S. A. Ltd. which went into receivership in 1905.
Joseph Fisher was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly for the district of Sturt from April 1868 to March 1870. Fisher was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in 1873 and held his seat until 1881. He was a man of unyielding principles – the obituary in The Register said "... in his earlier political career he expressed himself as sternly opposed to many of the political ideals which have since found favour in certain quarters and refused to shirk what he deemed to be his duties and responsibilities to retain his seat. He was at all times plain spoken and was not the man to make compromises of principle for the sake of securing any private advantage." This may have referred to his opposition in 1880 to a parliamentary bill, which he labelled as "Un-Christian", to restrict freedoms of Chinese nationals. This opposition probably cost him his seat at the 1881 elections.
daughter Helen Elizabeth aged 3 years of diphtheria
daughter Annie Katherine aged 2 years
daughter Gertrude married William Culross 12 November 1887
son Harold married Alice Russell Maude Smyth 7 May 1890
son Norman aged 2 years
For all their married life they lived in "Woodfield" at what is now 78 Fisher Street Fullarton. The original house was built around 1853 by J. C. Verco and P. Santo, schoolmates from J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution, both of whom were to become South Australian parliamentarians. He bought it at the time of his marriage in 1857 and extended it significantly in 1883. A prominent feature is a square three-storey tower from which Fisher could watch shipping movements. In his last twenty years Fisher suffered from gout and diabetes. His death at home, after a bout of influenza, received little publicity: there was no death notice and his cremation was only reported after the event.
