James Oatley (New South Wales politician)

James Oatley (16 April 1817 – 31 December 1878) was an Australian politician.

He was born in Sydney to ex-convict watchmaker James Oatley and his wife Mary. He began work as an apprentice coachbuilder and became a publican. On 1 January 1839 he married Eleanor Johnson, with whom he had nine children; a second marriage on 29 September 1870 to Margaret Curtis would produce a daughter. He was a member of Sydney City Council from 1852 to 1853, 1857 to 1867 and 1868 to 1878, serving as Mayor in 1862. In 1864 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Canterbury, serving until his retirement in 1869. Oatley died at Woolloomooloo in 1878.