Dictionary of Australian Biography F

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was the son of George Fairbairn (1815-1895), an early Victorian pioneer who married a Miss Armytage. George Fairbairn came to Adelaide in 1839 but soon afterwards moved to Victoria and became a successful pastoralist. He took much interest in the preservation of meat and made many experiments which were not successful. In 1878, however, he was associated with Andrew and Thomas McIlwraith (q.v.) of Queensland in sending the first successful cargo of frozen meat to England in the Strathleven. He was also one of the earliest to export tallow. He died at Queenscliff, Victoria, on 18 July 1895, leaving a family of five sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Sir George Fairbairn (1855-1943), was well-known in his younger days as a rowing man, became a leading pastoralist and politician and was knighted in 1926. Stephen Fairbairn, one of his younger sons born on 25 August 1862, was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne, and Geelong Grammar School, where he was a good footballer and cricketer. He went to Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1881, and won the hammer throwing and putting the weight at the Freshmen's sports. He was at Cambridge for six years, assisted in bringing the Jesus crew to the head of the river, and rowed for Cambridge in 1882, 1883, 1885 and 1886. He mentions in his autobiography that he also attended one lecture (Fairbairn of Jesus, p. 35). He, however, graduated B.A., became a barrister of the Inner Temple, and returned to Australia where he was engaged as a pastoralist until 1905. Coming to England again he made the coaching of rowing crews his hobby and revolutionized the style of rowing. His first principle was that the legs were the strongest part of the body and that at the beginning of the stroke everything must be sacrificed to get a good leg drive. The oarsman must not think too much about his body but concentrate on correct blade movements, some relaxation of the body is permissible, and on the forward stroke the blade must be kept well clear of the water. This is necessarily an inadequate account of a method which Fairbairn has discussed in detail in four books: Rowing Notes (1926), Slowly Forward (1929), Some Secrets of Successful Rowing (1931), and Chats on Rowing (1934). He continued to coach until near the end of his life, and his huge figure perched on a bicycle was continually to be seen on the river banks at Cambridge and London. In 1925 he founded the head of the river race at Putney at which anything up to 1000 oarsmen compete. His autobiography Fairbairn of Jesus, a lively book, appeared in 1931 with an excellent portrait by James Quinn. Fairbairn died in England on 16 May 1938. He married Nellie Sharwood who survived him with two sons. He was the most picturesque figure of his time in British rowing, and his coaching had an immense influence on the sport not only in Great Britain but on the continent.

was born at Grahamstown, South Africa, on 5 May 1885. His father, Rhys Seymour Fairbridge, was a government land-surveyor. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, until he was 11 years old, when the family moved to Rhodesia. He had no further schooling until he prepared to enter Oxford. At 13 he became a clerk in the Standard Bank of Africa at Umtali, and two years later tried to enlist for the Boer war, then took up market gardening and early in 1903 visited England. He was away for about 12 months and could not help being impressed by the contrast between the crowded cities of England and the open spaces of Rhodesia. On his return he worked for two and a half years for a Mr Freeman who was recruiting natives for the mines at Johannesburg. He began writing verses and was pleased to have two poems accepted by the South African Magazine. Slowly a scheme was being formulated in his mind to bring poor children from London to South Africa where they could be trained as farmers. He applied to the Rhodes trustees for a scholarship, feeling that once in England he would find ways of developing his scheme. He was informed by the Rhodes trustees that if he passed the Oxford entrance examination his application would be favourably considered, and in 1906 he went to England to be privately coached. Greek was essential and he had never done any. He worked hard at it and succeeded in passing the required examination at the fourth attempt. In October 1908 he entered Exeter College, Oxford, with a Rhodes scholarship. There he obtained his blue for boxing, beating Julian Grenfell twice in the trials, and made many friends. He began to write on child emigration until he was advised by a friend that speaking might be more effective. His first rebuff was from the British South Africa Company, which informed him that they considered Rhodesia too young a country in which to start child emigration. He was, however, cheered by a favourable answer from the premier of Newfoundland.

In October 1909 Fairbridge made a speech to the Colonial Club at Oxford, and at the end of the meeting a motion was carried that those present should form themselves into a society for the furtherance of child emigration to the colonies. The movement had begun. The next two years were spent in trying to interest people in the project and collecting money which came in slowly. He obtained his diploma in forestry, in 1911, and in December of that year was married to Ruby Ethel Whitmore who had been encouraging and helping him for some time. In March 1912 they sailed for Western Australia with a total capital of £2000. A property of 160 acres was purchased near Pinjarra about 60 miles south of Perth, and the Western Australian government agreed to help by paying £6 for each child towards the cost of the passage money. The first party, 13 children aged between 7 and 13, soon arrived, and was followed by another party of 22 boys some months later. Some kind of shelter had to be prepared for them, the utterly neglected orchard had to be pruned, and the English committee had to be satisfied that every item of expenditure was necessary. Fairbridge and his wife worked unceasingly and gradually each difficulty was overcome. But when the war came financial difficulties became very pressing, until a grant was obtained from the Western Australian government which tided the school over the war period. After the war Fairbridge went to England and so impressed everybody that a sum of £27,000 was procured for the development of the school. A more suitable site of 3200 acres was found and new buildings were put up. In 1922 the help of the Commonwealth government was secured, and in 1923, after years of discomfort, Fairbridge and his wife and family were able to move into a suitable house of their own. He had, however, suffered much from intermittent bouts of malaria and he now found himself often in pain. On 19 July 1924 he died after an operation. He was survived by his wife and four children. Three years after his death there were over 200 children at the school, and in 1935 the number had reached 370. In that year over 1000 employers applied for the 100 boys ready to go out to work. Other schools have since been established at Vancouver Island, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and Molong, New South Wales.

Kingsley Fairbridge was tall, athletic and good-looking with an attractive personality. He had vision and determination and a capacity to make his dreams become realities. His volume of poems Veld Verse, published in 1909, contains verse of more than average quality, his Autobiography written with simplicity and charm ends before he was 25. With the never-failing help of his wife he showed how an emigration farm school for children could be successfully carried on at a low cost in money, and that ill-nourished children from the slums could be made healthy, vigorous and worthy citizens of a new land.

the son of William Fairfax and his wife, Elizabeth Jesson, was born at Warwick, England, on 24 October 1804. The family of Fairfax was an old one, for many years its members were landed proprietors, but its estates had been lost and William Fairfax at the time of John's birth was in the building and furnishing trade. At the age of 12 John was apprenticed to a bookseller and printer at Warwick, and when he was 20 went to London where he worked as a compositor in a general printing office and on the Morning Chronicle. A year or two later he established himself at Leamington, then a growing town, as a printer, bookseller and stationer. There, on 31 July 1827, he married Sarah Reading, daughter of James and Sarah Reading. He became the printer of the Leamington Spa Courier, and in 1835 he purchased an interest in another paper The Leamington Chronicle and Warwickshire Reporter. In 1836 he published a letter criticizing the conduct of a local solicitor who brought an action against him. Though judgment was given for the defendant the solicitor appealed. Judgment was again given for Fairfax but the costs of the actions were so heavy that he was compelled to go insolvent. There was much sympathy for him and his friends offered assistance, but he decided to make a fresh start in a new land, and in May 1838 sailed for Australia in the Lady Fitzherbert with his wife and three children, his mother and a brother-in-law. After a trying voyage of about 130 days Sydney was reached towards the end of September 1838.

Fairfax worked as a compositor for some months, but early in 1839 was appointed librarian of the Australian subscription library and began his duties on 1 April. The salary was only £100 a year but he had free quarters for his family in pleasant surroundings. He found he was able to get some typesetting, and he also contributed articles to the various Sydney newspapers. What was possibly more important was his getting in touch through the library with the best educated men of Sydney with some of whom he became friendly. One of these was a member of the staff of the Sydney Herald, Charles Kemp, an able and lovable man, with whom he joined forces to purchase the Herald for the sum of £10,000. The paper was bought on terms, friends helped the two men to find the deposit, and on 8 February 1841 they took control as proprietors. It was an ideal combination for each had qualities that supplemented the other's, they worked in perfect harmony for 12 years and firmly established the paper as the leading Australian newspaper of the day. It was given the fuller title of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1842, and in spite of a period of depression both partners by 1853 were in prosperous positions. Kemp then decided to retire. The partnership was dissolved in September 1853 and Charles the eldest son of Fairfax became a partner. In the previous year his father had visited England and seeking out his old creditors repaid every man in full with interest added. Under Fairfax and his sons the paper continually increased in public favour, and the great increase of population in the 1850s added much to its prosperity. It was always conservative; G. B. Barton in his Literature in New South Wales said in 1866 that its Toryism had "increased in a direct ratio to the Radicalism of the constitution, and its prosperity in a direct ratio to its Toryism". But this is an overstatement. The Herald was moved to its present site in 1856, and at that date claimed to have the largest circulation in the "colonial empire". A weekly journal, the Sydney Mail, was established, its first number was published on 7 July 1860, and it continued to appear until 1938. On 26 December 1863 Charles Fairfax, the eldest son and the right hand man of Fairfax on the paper, was thrown from his horse and killed. John Fairfax never fully recovered from his son's death, but the work of the newspaper went on. In 1865 Fairfax and his wife again visited England where the latest newspaper methods were studied. Fairfax became a member of the legislative council in 1874 but never took an active part in politics. His wife died on 12 August 1875 and soon afterwards his own health began to fail. He died at Sydney on 16 June 1877.

Fairfax was a sincerely religious man, much interested in the Congregational church. But his paper was kept free from religious bias, and was in no way responsible for the strong sectarian feelings which then existed in Sydney: His household was typically Victorian in its outlook, but in the newspaper due importance was given to music and the theatre, literature and art. To Fairfax the conduct of the press was a sacred trust and he never betrayed his trust. Of his children his second son, Sir James Reading Fairfax (1834-1919), entered his father's office in 1852 and was admitted as a partner in 1856. When his father died he was in control of the paper, and in his hands it went from strength to strength. He was intimately associated with it for 67 years, for a long period he was the Herald. Like his father he was a religious man, for a long period was president of the Y.M.C.A., and he did much for other social services of the community. He died on 28 March 1919. Two of his sons carried on the traditions of the paper, Geoffrey Evan Fairfax (1861-1930) and Sir James Oswald Fairfax (1863-1928). They entered the office on the same day in 1889 and each had a large share in the conduct of the paper. A third son, Charles Burton Fairfax, retired in 1904 and went to live in England. His son Captain J. Griffyth Fairfax, born in 1886, was a member of the house of commons for some years, and has published several volumes of verse of which a list will be found in E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature. Warwick Oswald Fairfax son of Sir James Oswald Fairfax born in 1901 became managing director in 1930.

the son of Jacob Farjeon and his wife Dinah, formerly Levy, was born in London in 1838. Both parents were Jewish by race and faith and were too poor to be able to give their son much education. When about 13 he went to work as printer's boy on the Nonconformist, a Christian journal, did much reading, and was helped in his self-education by a kindly schoolmaster. The boy broke away from the strict faith of his father, and partly on this account decided to go to Australia in 1854. An uncle bought him a steerage passage, and he arrived in Australia practically penniless. He obtained work, went to the diggings, and at once started a newspaper. Meeting with hard times he went to New Zealand in 1861, and obtained a position on the Otago Daily Times, the first daily paper established in New Zealand. (Sir) Julius Vogel was editor and part proprietor and Farjeon became manager and sub-editor. In 1865 he published his first book, Shadows on the Snow: a Christmas Story, dedicated it to Charles Dickens, sent him a copy and suggested that he might care to print it in All the Year Round. Dickens in May 1866 wrote him a kind but certainly not encouraging letter, but it was enough for Farjeon, who threw up his excellent prospects in New Zealand and returned to London, where in 1870 he made a reputation as a novelist with Grif: a Story of Australian Life. This was followed by about 50 other novels which will be found listed in E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature. The early books showed Farjeon to be a follower of Dickens, his later were often concerned with crime and mystery. His seven years in Australia made a deep impression on him, and many of his books have their setting in that country. He died at Hampstead, London, after a short illness on 23 July 1903. He married Margaret, daughter of Joseph Jefferson (q.v.), who survived him with three sons and a daughter. Of the children Herbert and Eleanor Farjeon became capable writers, especially in connexion with the drama, and Harry Farjeon a well-known musician and composer.

Farjeon was mercurial and unpredictable, except that he could always be relied upon to be kind and charitable. This is reflected in his books, and he was much touched to learn that one of them had suggested the founding of homes for orphans in the United States. His books had much popularity in their time, one of them, Grif, was in its seventeenth edition in 1898, but they belonged to their period and are gradually being forgotten.

was born at Parramatta, New South Wales in 1827. At a comparatively early age he began travelling with stock and learnt much about his own colony. The gold discoveries in California in 1848 led to his visiting America, and he also travelled in New Zealand before finally returning to New South Wales. In 1860 he was elected to the legislative assembly for St Leonards, but lost his seat at the next election. He was returned at Parramatta in 1864 and held the seat for 10 years. He became secretary for lands in the first Parkes (q.v.) ministry from May 1872 to February 1875, and for a short period was also secretary for mines. From December 1876 until October 1877 Farnell was an excellent chairman of committees, but towards the end of that year he organized a "Third Party", in November carried an amendment to the address in reply by two votes, and the Robertson (q.v.) ministry resigned. Farnell succeeded in forming a ministry and on 18 December 1877 took office as premier and secretary for lands. In October 1878 he brought in a land bill which was defeated on 5 December. Farnell resigned and was succeeded by Parkes. When the Stuart (q.v.) ministry was formed in January 1883 Farnell was again secretary for lands, and showed much patience and tact in his management of the land bill which became law in 1884. In the succeeding Dibbs (q.v.) ministry formed in October 1885 he was minister of justice and representative of the ministry in the upper house, but this government lasted only a few weeks. He was subsequently elected for Redfern in the assembly and represented that constituency at the time of his death on 21 August 1888.

Farnell was a hard-working legislator who gave much study to the land question and also tried hard for some years to pass a bill for the regulation of contagious diseases. He declined a knighthood. His wife survived him with 11 children, one of whom, Frank Farnell, was a member of the New South Wales parliament at the time of his father's death.

was born at Buenos Aires, South America, on 18 December 1851. His father, Andrew Farrell, left Ireland about 1847 and settled in Buenos Aires as a chemist. Towards the end of 1852 he went to Victoria, Australia, with his wife and children, and engaged first in gold-digging, and then in carrying, before finally settling down as a farmer. John Farrell was at first educated by his parents and then at a private school. His mother died before he was 12 years old, and thereafter he had little formal education although his father encouraged his taste for reading. The boy worked on farms, and when he was 19 obtained a position in a brewery at Bendigo. He wandered about Australia for some time, went into brewing again, and alternated this occupation with farming for some years. In 1878 he published, under the name of John O'Farrell, Ephemera: An Iliad of Albury, a little pamphlet of verse now one of the rarest of Australian publications. In 1882 Two Stories, a Fragmentary Poem was published at Melbourne, and about this period he began to be a regular contributor to the Bulletin. He was then working in a brewery at Albury, and in 1883 was a partner in a brewery at Goulburn. He became much interested in the tenets of Henry George after reading Progress and Poverty. In January 1887 a collection of Farrell's verses was published in Sydney under the title of How He Died and Other Poems which was favourably reviewed, and in 1887 he sold his brewery interests and went to Sydney hoping to obtain employment as a journalist. He bought a paper, the Lithgow Enterprise, but was unable to make it a financial success, and in 1889 returned to Sydney to edit the Australian Standard, a single tax paper for which Farrell did much writing. In October 1889 he began a series of articles on George's theories for the Daily Telegraph, and in the following year joined its staff. When Henry George arrived in Sydney in March he was met by Farrell who accompanied him on his inland tour. The two men became great friends. In June 1890 Farrell was appointed editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, but found the responsibility too great and resigned three months later. He continued, however, to be a regular contributor until shortly before his death on 8 January 1904. He married in November 1876 Eliza Watts, who survived him with seven children. A memorial edition of Farrell's poems was published in 1904 with a memoir by Bertram Stevens under the title of My Sundowner and other Poems. This was re-issued in 1905 as How He Died and other Poems. The contents differ considerably from those of the 1887 volume with the same name.

Farrell as a poet was a precursor of the Bulletin school of the nineties. Much of his work is no more than vigorous, unpolished popular verse, and Farrell had no illusions about it. His "Australia to England", however, is an example of first rate occasional verse and contains more than one memorable phrase. He was an excellent journalist and a first-rate talker, much interested in political economy generally, and the single tax theory in particular. His attitude to life was sanely humorous. He was modest about his own work, thoroughly appreciative of the work of others, generous with his own time and money, and considerate and courteous to all; no literary man of his period was more beloved.

was born near Kendal, Westmoreland, England, on 3 April 1845. His father was a country gentleman who came of a long line of comparatively small landowners known as "statesmen". Educated at Christ's Hospital school, where he showed proficiency in mathematics, Farrer went on to Pembroke College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1868 as twenty-ninth wrangler in the mathematical tripos. He began to study medicine, but poor health led to his seeking a warmer climate and he went to Australia in 1870. He had intended to settle on the land, and while he was learning something about the country took a position as tutor in the family of George Campbell of Duntroon station near Queanbeyan. The loss of some of his money compelled him to give up his intention of buying land, and in July 1875 he passed the examination for licensed surveyors. He immediately obtained a position with the lands department and for the next 11 years, except for a visit to England in 1878-9, was carrying out surveys in New South Wales. In July 1886 he resigned his position and retired to his home at Lambrigg near Queanbeyan. He had published in 1873 Grass and Sheep-farming A Paper: Speculative and Suggestive dealing largely with the suitability of various soils for grasses, and the more scientific side of sheep-farming. This pamphlet showed the bent of his mind, but he had had little time to follow it up with other investigations. He had noted the prevalence of rust in wheat crops, and he became interested in the problem of producing wheats of good milling quality which would also be rust-resisting. He obtained samples of wheat from various parts of the world and set to work crossing those that appeared to have valuable qualities with the various varieties in use in Australia. The problem of rust-resistance was, however, not the only one. He was convinced that it is more profitable to the farmer to allow his wheat to become ripe before harvesting it, and that it was most important that varieties should be bred that would hold the grain firmly when it is ripe. At conferences of government officials and experts held in Sydney in 1891 and in South Australia in 1892, Farrer contributed valuable papers dealing with the many problems involved. He kept in touch with the New South Wales agricultural department, and in 1898 was appointed wheat experimentalist to the agricultural department at a salary of £350 a year. The smallness of this salary in relation to the value of the work done has sometimes been commented upon, but Farrer was not thinking about salary, and would never have attempted to make money out of his discoveries even if he had not joined the department. He continued experimenting on his own land and at various experimental farms in different districts, and had the usual disappointments inseparable from work of this kind. It was difficult too for some of the people in authority to understand how slowly experimental work proceeds. Farrer found it necessary to point out in the Agricultural Gazette that it takes at least four years to fix a type, that when that was done it had to pass a high standard of milling excellence, and that another three years must pass before there could be a sufficient stock of seed for a fairly wide distribution of it. His own health was uncertain, but he was so engrossed in his work that he would frequently begin it at 6.30 in the morning. He took up another problem, the resistance to bunt or smut-ball in wheat, and was able to produce varieties practically bunt-resistant. He was greatly pleased when the government decided to establish a 200 acre experimental farm near Cowra. He was also much interested in the question of manuring and particularly in the value of green-manuring. His famous variety of wheat, Federation, was fixed about the turn of the century, was made available to farmers in 1902-3, and soon established itself as the most popular variety in Australia. He produced several other varieties that were generally cultivated, but towards the end of his life he was over-taxing his strength. He died of heart disease on 16 April 1906. He married in 1882 Miss de Salis.

Farrer was a man of wide culture and reading, sensitive and somewhat reserved in disposition, but generous and sympathetic. He was a born experimenter, never losing his enthusiasm, untiring in labour, thinking only of the work in hand and never of himself. The value of his work to Australia can hardly be overstated, for though in course of time all his varieties will be superseded by better strains, for many years they added enormously to the value of the wheat crops, and later investigators have owed not a little to his methods of producing new and valuable varieties. His memory has been perpetuated by the Farrer Memorial Trust, which provides Farrer research scholarships for students wishing to do research work in connexion with wheat-growing.

was born in London in 1845 or 1846, and educated in Germany and England. Emigrating to Australia in 1863 he worked for a year in Sydney, and then had experience on a station in northern Queensland. He began to write for the press, under the name of "Dramingo" and in 1878 was asked by the proprietor of the Queenslander to organize a party to go out and report on the country between Blackall and Darwin. It had been proposed that the Queensland railways should be linked up with Darwin, but not much was known of the country to be traversed. In July 1878 Favenc with two other white men and an aborigine set out from Blackall, made their way to Cork station on the Diamantina, and then proceeded north-west through unexplored country between the Burke and Herbert Rivers to Buchanan's Creek, which was followed for some distance. Striking north the party came to Corella Lagoon. Still keeping north they came to Creswell Creek, which was followed for some distance west. The last permanent water found, named Adder waterholes, was only 90 miles from the telegraph line. But it was by now extremely hot and the first attempt to reach the line resulted in the loss of three horses from want of water. It was decided to wait for better weather and, though their rations were rapidly running out, the party succeeded in living on the country by shooting wild ducks and other birds, and using blue bush and pig-weed as vegetables. In January 1879 some thunderstorms brought them welcome water, and Powell Creek station and Darwin were quickly reached. Some good pastoral country was discovered which has since been stocked. Four years later Favenc did some useful exploring in the country to the south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and he also explored country in the north-west of Western Australia.

Favenc was doing a fair amount of journalistic work at this time and by 1887 settled down to literary work. His first separate publication had been an interesting little pamphlet, The Great Austral Plain, which appeared in 1881, in which he discussed the future of the interior of Australia with much knowledge and good sense. In 1887 he published a short book on Western Australia and in 1888 appeared his excellent History of Australian Exploration. He collected some of his short stories from periodicals The Last of Six: Tales of the Austral Tropics in 1893, of which another edition under the title of Tales of the Austral Tropics appeared in 1894. The Secret of the Australian Desert, a short novel, was published in 1895, and was followed by Marooned on Australia and The Moccasins of Silence, both published in 1896. My Only Murder and other Tales another collection of short stories appeared in 1899, a pamphlet on the Physical Configuration of the Australian Continent in 1905, and in the same year a collection of his verse Voices of the Desert, dedicated to his wife. His last work, The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work, was published in 1908. He had been in broken health for some years and he died on 14 November of that year.

Favenc was an excellent explorer, resolute yet careful, a born bushman. His own experiences enabled him to speak with authority in his two books dealing with the exploration of Australia. He was a good journalist who did much work for the Bulletin, his verse is capable and vigorous, his three romances are still readable, and his short stories are always competent and interesting.

son of John and Hannah Fawkner née Pascoe, was born at London on 20 October 1792. He came to Australia with his father and mother in Lieut.-colonel Collins's (q.v.) expedition, which attempted a settlement in Port Phillip bay near the present site of Sorrento in October 1803, and went to Tasmania in February 1804. His father, though a transported man, does not appear to have belonged to the criminal class, he soon obtained a conditional pardon, and his subsequent life was thoroughly respectable. For some time he had a small farm near Hobart where his son assisted him. In 1814 the young man became a sawmiller and soon afterwards fell into trouble. A letter dated 19 October 1814 from Lieut.-governor Davey (q.v.) to. Lieutenant Jeffreys instructs him that he is to receive on board John Fawkner, "one of those persons who lately absconded from the settlements after committing some most atrocious robberys and depredations, and is under sentence of transportation for five years; he proceeds to Sydney for the purpose of being sent to the Coal river during the period of his sentence, and also to break the chain of a very dangerous connexion he has formed in this settlement". This gives a misleading account of what had occurred. Fawkner's account of this incident, which appears to have been true, was that "a party of prisoners, determined to escape, sought his assistance and that in a moment of foolish sympathy he undertook to help them". (J. Bonwick, Port Phillip Settlement, pp. 281-2).

In 1818 Fawkner was back at Hobart and in 1819 removed to Launceston where he worked as a baker and bookseller. In 1825 he became a timber merchant and at about this time opened the Cornwall Hotel. In 1829 he was defending people in the lower court as an authorized "agent" and in the same year became the proprietor of his first newspaper the Launceston Advertiser. In 1835, like Batman (q.v.) Fawkner was considering the colonization of the Port Phillip district. He communicated his plans to some of his friends and a party was made up to cross the straits. Fawkner sold seven acres of his land in Brisbane-street, Launceston, bought the schooner Enterprise and loaded her with agricultural implements, fruit trees, grain, garden seeds, blankets and tomahawks for the aborigines, and a large stock of provisions. His party consisted of William Jackson, carpenter, Robert H. Marr, carpenter, J. H. Lancey, master mariner, George Evans, plasterer, and four other employees. The Enterprise sailed on 27 July 1835 but met bad weather and Fawkner became so ill that the vessel returned on 30 July and he was landed at George Town. The Enterprise arrived at Western Port on 8 August and afterwards sailed on to Port Phillip and arrived at the mouth of the Yarra on 20 August. On 29 August the vessel anchored near where is now Spencer-street, Melbourne, and four days later everything had been put on shore. On the same day J. H. Wedge (q.v.) as representative of John Batman arrived from Indented Head and informed Fawkner's party that they were trespassing on land bought by Batman from the natives. On the following day they were given a courteous letter repeating this statement and expressing the hope that they would "see the propriety of selecting a situation that will not interfere with the boundaries described in the deed of conveyance". Wedge had no power to eject the party and indeed, in the view of the government at Sydney, both parties were trespassers.

Fawkner arrived on 11 October 1835 an very soon took a leading part in the community. On 6 November he occupied the first house erected in Melbourne and opened a public-house without licence. Soon afterwards he began cultivating land between the river and Emerald Hill, now South Melbourne. But the position of the settlers was very unsatisfactory as no-one had any security of tenure and there was no resident magistrate. On 1 June 1836 a public meeting was held and Fawkner moved resolutions appointing Mr James Simpson as an arbitrator on all questions except those relating to land, and that all subscribing parties should bind themselves not to cause any action at law against the arbitrator. He also proposed the resolution asking Governor Bourke (q.v.) to appoint a resident magistrate, and seconded one pledging the meeting to afford protection to the aborigines. In reply to the petition Captain Lonsdale (q.v.) was appointed police magistrate in September 1836, and he brought with him a party of surveyors to lay out the town. On 1 June 1837 the first sale of crown land was held at Melbourne, and on 1 January 1838 Fawkner published the first newspaper, the Melbourne Advertiser. Seventeen weekly issues appeared, of which the first nine were in manuscript, and the remainder were the first printed publications to appear in Melbourne. The paper was suppressed by Captain Lonsdale because Fawkner had not complied with the newspaper act. On 6 February 1839 he published the first number of the Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser, at first a weekly, but in July it became a bi-weekly. The advertisement of Fawkner's hotel which appeared in the fourth issue throws an interesting light on him. He says little about what is usually found at hotels but stresses the mental pabulum to be expected. "There are provided seven English and five colonial weekly newspapers, seven British monthly magazines, three British Quarterly Reviews up to October 1837; a very choice selection of Books including Novels, Poetry, Theology, History, etc. N.B. A late Encyclopaedia. Any of those works will be free to the lodgers at the above hotel." Surely no other hotel in the world ever advertised an encyclopaedia among its attractions, but Fawkner really believed in the value of books and education. On 21 November 1840 he published the first number of the Geelong Advertiser.

In November 1841 Fawkner was appointed one of the first market commissioners, and at the first municipal election on 1 December 1842 he was elected one of the councillors for the Lonsdale ward and with two intervals was a member for about three years. In 1845 largely on account of other people not fulfilling their obligations to him, Fawkner became insolvent; fortunately half of his farm of about 800 acres at Pascoe Vale near Melbourne had been settled on his wife and he was able to make a fresh start. In a few years he was again in comfortable monetary circumstances. At the anti-transportation and separation meetings he was a vigorous speaker. He was elected a member of the first legislative council in 1851 and continued to sit until shortly before his death. He watched closely all matters before the house and spoke frequently and with decision. He became an institution in the house and nothing but illness prevented his attendance. He died on 4 September 1869.

Fawkner played many parts in his time. He triumphed over his first mistake, and if he never quite became a popular leader he earned the gratitude and respect of the community he served. He was abstemious in his habits and full of energy; "a short, squat, hard-mouthed little man with a determined chin and a shambling gait, passionate and fiery in his speech." He was in advance of his period in his demand for education, and when Melbourne was little more than a village he could visualize the desirability of a philharmonic society and a university. He founded what was practically the first library in Victoria, and some household relics, preserved in the historical museum at the public library, Melbourne, suggest that essentially he was a man of culture although his outward manners were unpolished. He was quick to realize the needs of his young community and early fought for a magistrate and police, a hospital, water supply, and flood protection. The respective claims of Fawkner and John Batman to be the founder of Melbourne are discussed under Batman, but the latter died about three years after his arrival and for the greater part of that period was a disabled man. Fawkner on the other hand was a power in the land from the beginning and continued to be so for 30 years.

Fawkner married Elizabeth Cobb at Hobart in November 1818. She survived him but there were no children. His portrait is in the historical collection at the public library, Melbourne.

was born at Maldon, Essex, on 8 December 1831. He came to Victoria on the ship California in 1853, no doubt intending to search for gold, but there is no record of what success he had. In 1857 he was in business in Collins-street, Melbourne, as a commission agent and dealer in merchandise, and in 1859 was an importer and general dealer. Two years later he was in business in Swanston-street, as a wholesale druggist. In 1866 he went into partnership with F. S. Grimwade and founded the well-known business of Felton Grimwade and Company, wholesale druggists and manufacturing chemists. The business grew and as the years went by the partners acquired interests in associated industries such as Melbourne Glass Bottle Works, and Cuming Smith and Company, makers of artificial manures etc. Felton also had large grazing interests and he became a rich man. His own wants were few and he never married. He gave away considerable amounts to charity, and formed large collections of pictures and books which at times threatened to push him out of his rooms at the Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, near Melbourne. He died there on 8 January 1904.

The net value of Felton's estate was £494,522. When legacies totalling £58,900 were deducted and probate duties and other expenses paid £378,033 remained. The income from this sum was left to the state, one half to be spent on charities, the other on works of art to be presented to the national gallery of Victoria. At the time of Felton's death Melbourne had not completely recovered from the financial crisis of 1893. By careful management the value of the capital fund has since increased to over £1,000,000 It has been calculated that the income paid away to charity and for works of art reached half a million each by 1936. In this way the national gallery at Melbourne has been able to acquire works by Van Eyck, Memling, Rembrandt, Titian, Van Dyck, Tiepelo, Corot, Manet, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Turner and many other artists whose pictures would otherwise have been quite beyond its means.

Felton has been described as "a tallish spare man, with pointed beard and kindly grey eyes". Not a recluse, he liked to mix with his fellow-men on public occasions, though he had few intimate friends. His habits were simple and undeviating, his breakfast was nearly always a whiting, his dinner, chicken. No lunch. "In moments of exhilaration his excesses seemed to amount to a cigar." He liked to discuss questions of art, and was interested to some degree in music. A portrait painted from photographs by Sir John Longstaff is at the national gallery, Melbourne.

was born on 23 October 1786. His father Henry Field was a well-known London medical man and his brother, Frederick (1801-85), became a distinguished biblical scholar. Field was educated as a barrister and was called to the Inner Temple on 25 June 1814. He was a great student of poetry and frequently contributed to the press, being for a time theatrical critic for The Times. He became acquainted with Lamb and his circle; Crabb Robinson called on Field in January 1812 and found Lamb and Leigh Hunt there, and he records in another place that at Lamb's house on 23 May 1815 he met Wordsworth, Field, and Talfourd. In the following year Field accepted a commission as judge of the supreme court in New South Wales, and arrived in Sydney on 24 February 1817. Governor Macquarie (q.v.), writing to Under-secretary Goulburn in April thanked him "for making me acquainted with Mr Field's character. He appears to be everything that you say of him and I am very much prejudiced in his favour already from his mild modest and conciliating manners, and I am persuaded he will prove a great acquisition and blessing to this colony". Field was soon at work framing the necessary "Rules of Practice and Regulations for conducting the Proceedings of the Court". His salary was £800 a year with a residence, government servants, and rations for himself.

In 1819 he published First Fruits of Australian Poetry, the first volume of verse, if it may be called a volume for it had only twelve pages, issued in Australia. Lamb reviewed it far too kindly in the Examiner for 16 January 1820. An enlarged edition appeared in 1823. Though Field carried out his duties ably and conscientiously he does not appear to have been able to keep himself clear from the petty squabbles and jealousies of a small settlement. An echo of this may be found in the description of Field by John Dunmore Lang (q.v.) as a "weak silly man who fancied himself a poet born". Sir Thomas Brisbane (q.v.), writing to Earl Bathurst in January 1824, stated that Field "had embraced every opportunity of falsely and foully slandering me and my government". But Brisbane could be irascible if he thought his honour or dignity was touched, and his first ground of complaint appears to have been that "during his first two years in the colony, Field had never once entered Government House". However, word was already on the way to Brisbane that Field had been recalled, and Lamb, writing at the end of 1824, mentions that "Barron Field is come home from Sydney. He is plump and friendly; his wife really is a very superior woman". Field had been granted a pension of £400 a year from 4 February 1824. He was subsequently appointed chief justice at Gibraltar. Disraeli called on him there in 1830 and gave an unflattering description of him in a letter to his sister. In 1836 Crabb Robinson spoke of intending to visit him at Gibraltar, and in 1841 Field printed another small volume of verse, Spanish Sketches, at the press of the garrison library there. In 1844 he was back in England writing to Crabb Robinson from Torquay. He died on 11 April 1846.

Field's claim to distinction does not rest entirely on the fact that he wrote the first volume of verse to appear in Australia, he also founded the first savings bank in June 1819. He is spoken of with respect in Miss Marion Phillips's A Colonial Autocracy. He was the B.F. of one of the most famous of Lamb's essays and the recipient of more than one of his delightful letters, which suggests that he must have had likeable qualities. His verse has no value, but he could do better work in prose and had some claims to be an Elizabethan scholar, his special interest being Thomas Heywood. His Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales, published in 1825, is an interesting collection of some of the earliest scientific papers relating to Australia.

fourth son of the tenth Earl of Winchelsea, was born on 23 August 1856. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and at 19 years of age went to Queensland. He took up land in the Mackay district and later worked on the Nebo goldfields. Returning to England in 1883 he published in 1885 an account of his travels Advance Australia! (2nd ed. 1886). It is written in an entertaining way, but his statements about the aborigines and his views on Australian politicians must be accepted with caution. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the house of commons in 1885, 1886 and 1892, but was returned as a conservative for Newark in 1895. He resigned in 1898 on account of disagreement with the policy of his party. He was one of the founders of the Imperial Federation League, and when the North Queensland Separation League was formed he was appointed chairman of the London committee. He also worked for the development of the Pacific route to Australia, and was secretary to the Pacific Telegraph Company for the formation of a line from Vancouver Island to Australia. He died suddenly at London on 16 May 1904. He was unmarried.

son of Moses Fink, was born at Guernsey in the Channel Islands on 3 July 1855. Brought to Victoria by his father in 1860 he was educated at the Flinders School, Geelong, at Geelong College, and at the Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne. He qualified as a solicitor at the university of Melbourne and practised his profession successfully. In September 1894 he was elected to the Victorian legislative assembly as member for Jolimont and West Richmond and held the seat for 10 years. On 5 December 1899 he became a minister without portfolio in the McLean (q.v.) ministry. The treasurer William Shiels (q.v.) had been in bad health and the intention was that Fink should act as an assistant to him. He, however, objected to some personal remarks made by Shiels at a public meeting referring to the ministry just displaced, and resigned from the ministry. (The Argus, 21 and 22 Dec. 1894). It was generally felt that his reasons were insufficient, and his action did harm to his future career as a politician. He supported the federation movement and stood for the house of representatives at the first federal election in April 1901, but was defeated by William Knox. He still held his seat in the Victorian assembly but retired in 1904 and never afterwards entered politics.

During this period, however, Fink had been doing valuable work in another direction. He was president of the royal commission on technical education in 1899-1901 which resulted in reforms in primary and technical schools, and he was also president of the royal commission on the university of Melbourne in 1902-4. In August 1904 he was thanked by parliament for his services to education. Subsequently he was chairman of conferences on apprenticeship in 1906-7 and 1911, chairman of a board of inquiry into the working-men's college in 1910, vice-president of the council of public education, vice-chairman of the state war council of Victoria, and chairman of the Commonwealth repatriation board for Victoria in 1917-19. In yet another direction he was an important influence. In his earlier days he had done some writing for the press and in 1889 became a director of the Herald and Weekly Times newspapers. A few years later he became chairman of directors. It was generally believed that Fink was an important factor in the great improvement that took place in the conduct of the Herald, and that he was largely responsible for the appointment of such excellent editors as Guy Innes and (Sir) Keith Murdoch. He retained his interest in the press until the end of his long life. He died at Melbourne on 25 April 1942. He married in 1881 Kate, daughter of George Isaacs, who predeceased him. He was survived by two sons and two daughters.

Fink was much interested in the arts and literature and was widely read. In his earlier days he was well-known as an excellent after-dinner speaker, and his witty speeches at social gatherings of artists and literary men were much appreciated. Though he was also well-known in the business life of Melbourne as a lawyer and a power in the newspaper world, comparatively few people realized the full value of his educational work. The advance in education in Victoria during the first quarter of the twentieth century was based on the report of the commissions over which he presided, and his recognition of the ability of Frank Tate (q.v.) led to his appointment as director of education and the great expansion which followed.

was born in Tipperary, Ireland, on 13 January 1819. Originally educated for the priesthood he emigrated to Australia and arrived at Port Phillip in July 1841. He was a tutor in classics for four years, and then joined the staff of the Port Phillip Herald as a general reporter. He was a good journalist and made a point of knowing everyone and everything that was going on; it was said that he had held every position on the paper from reporter to editor. In 1858 he was appointed clerk of the papers in the legislative council and remained in that position until his retirement in 1886. In 1880 he had published anonymously The "Garryowen" Sketches which were eventually expanded into The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, 1835-1852, published in two large volumes in 1888. Although unfortunately without an index, this is a valuable book and contains a large amount or generally reliable information about the early days of Melbourne.

Finn was a genial, kindly man, short in stature and very near-sighted. He took a great interest in Irish affairs in Melbourne and was for some time president of the St Patrick's Society. He died on 4 April 1898. He was married twice and left a widow and children by both marriages. A son, Edmund Finn, the younger, who died in 1922, was also an author. Among his books were A Priest's Secret and The Hordern Mystery, readable but now quite forgotten short novels.

was born at sea on 18 August 1807. He was educated at the school of the Rev. Charles Parr Burney at Greenwich, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In May 1825 he became an ensign in the 56th Foot, was promoted lieutenant in 1827, and subsequently spent three years in Mauritius in the department of roads and bridges. In 1835 he sold his commission and, having been appointed assistant surveyor under Colonel Light, arrived in South Australia in September 1836. He supported Light's choice of the site of Adelaide; his correspondence during the early years shows him to have been a man of sound judgment and he was an able assistant during the early surveys. In 1839 he was appointed deputy surveyor-general and in 1843 he became commissioner of police and police magistrate. He was made colonial treasurer and registrar general in 1847, and in 1851 was nominated to the legislative council by the governor Sir Henry Young (q.v.). In 1852 he received the appointment of colonial secretary, and in July 1853 had charge of the bill to provide for two chambers in the South Australian parliament. In the interim between the departure of Governor Young in December 1854 and the arrival of Sir Richard McDonnell (q.v.) in June 1855, Finniss acted as administrator. The bill of 1853 was not accepted by the British government, and a new bill was brought forward in 1855 providing for two purely elective houses. This received the royal assent in 1856. Finniss was elected one of the representatives for the city of Adelaide and became the first premier and chief secretary of South Australia. There were early difficulties between the two houses but Finniss during the four months his ministry was in session succeeded in passing measures to deal with waterworks for Adelaide, and the first railway in South Australia. He was treasurer in the Hanson (q.v.) ministry from June 1858 to May 1860 and at the new election in that year was one of the representatives for Mount Barker. In 1864 the South Australian government, desiring to open up the Northern Territory, organized a survey party under Finniss, giving him instructions to examine the Adelaide River and the coastline to the west and east of it. Finniss selected a site for the settlement at the mouth of the Adelaide River but his choice was much criticized, he had great trouble with his subordinates, and was eventually recalled. In 1875 he was a member of the forest board and in the following year was acting auditor general. He retired from the government service in 1881, and spent his leisure in preparing an interesting but discursive Constitutional History of South Australia which was published in 1886. He died on 24 December 1893. Finniss was twice married and left a widow, a son and two daughters.

Finniss was a man of varied capacity and determined character. A slow and somewhat prosy public speaker, he was a capable administrator with a high sense of duty and excellent judgment.

son of Robert Fisher, was born at Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland, on 29 August 1862. He was educated at the local school, and as a young man worked as a coal-miner. Emigrating to Australia he arrived in Queensland in 1885, worked as a miner for some years, read largely in economics and social science, and became a union leader. In 1893 he was elected to the legislative assembly for Gympie, an even-tempered tall young Scotchman, full of hopes for social reforms, and fully recognizing the power of the forces opposed to him. He was secretary for railways and public works in the Dawson (q.v.) ministry which lasted only a few days in December 1899, and in the following year brought in a workers' compensation bill which, however, did not become law.

At the first federal election held early in 1901 Fisher was elected to the house of representatives for Wide Bay, Queensland, and held the seat until his retirement 15 years later. When Watson (q.v.) formed the first labour ministry in April 1904, Fisher became minister for trade and customs, but Watson was defeated less than four months later and in 1907 resigned his leadership of the party on account of failing health. There were men of greater ability than Fisher in the ranks of labour, but none so safe and dependable, and he was elected leader. In November 1908 he withdrew his support from Deakin (q.v.) and became prime minister and treasurer. He brought in a defence act on similar lines to Deakin's, but found, in the then state of parties, that it was almost impossible to do really useful work. He was displaced by the so-called fusion government in June 1909, but at the general election held in April 1910 labour for the first time secured a majority of the house, and Fisher became prime minister and treasurer again. During his rather more than three years in office much important legislation was passed. The Commonwealth bank was inaugurated, compulsory military training was introduced, the transcontinental railway was begun, maternity allowances were brought in, and the Commonwealth took over the responsibility of the Northern Territory from South Australia. These were some of the more important of over 100 acts passed and few parliaments have had a more prolific record. In 1911 Fisher represented Australia at the Imperial conference and was made a privy councillor. He visited his birthplace, a remarkable homecoming for the man who had left as a young miner with no apparent prospects 26 years before, and returned the honoured prime minister of a great dominion. In the June 1913 general election labour lost some seats and Fisher resigned, but after the wartime election held in September 1914 he came back with a working majority. It was during this campaign that he made his famous declaration that Australia was prepared to spend her "last man and her last shilling". The labour cabinet was not entirely a happy family, Fisher began to feel the strain, and handed over the leadership to W. M. Hughes in October 1915. He became high commissioner in London in January 1916 and held the position until 1921. After a visit to Australia he returned to London and lived quietly until his death on 22 October 1928. He was survived by five sons and one daughter.

Fisher had no great gifts as an orator. He could speak clearly and vigorously, he was modest, sincere, hardworking and courageous, and he believed that the ideals of his party were for the good of humanity. At Australia House he was a little out of his element, for one thing his special gifts did not lie in the direction of after-dinner speaking, though he did good work in looking after the interests of the Australian soldiers. His greatest value to Australia was the sanity and moderation of his leadership from 1910 to 1913. Flushed with success at the polls his party might easily have gone to extremes in legislation under a less stable leader.

son of James Fisher a London architect, was born in 1789 or 1790. He studied law and practised as a solicitor in London from 1811 to 1832. In 1836 he was appointed resident commissioner in South Australia, and sailed for that colony on the Buffalo in July 1836 as representative of the South Australian board of commissioners. He arrived with Governor Hindmarsh (q.v.) on 28 December 1836. Unfortunately authority was divided between Hindmarsh as governor and Fisher as representative of the commissioners, with the powers of neither clearly defined. It was a contest between a bluff, honest, somewhat tactless man and a shrewd lawyer, and the quarrels that ensued were not entirely creditable to either. There were difficult financial problems and Fisher's management of them was unsatisfactory, though no doubt he was much hampered by the impossibility of carrying out his instructions. Hindmarsh was recalled and when his successor Gawler (q.v.) arrived on 12 October 1838 he combined the offices of governor and resident commissioner. Fisher then began private practice in the law, and was subsequently for some years leader of the bar at Adelaide, well known as a painstaking and fighting advocate. He was elected first mayor of Adelaide in 1840, and between then and 1853 was five times re-elected to that position. He was chosen a member of the legislative council in 1853, lost his seat at the next election, but was in the council again in 1855 as a nominee member and was unanimously elected speaker. He was elected to the council in 1857 under the new constitution and was its president for eight years. He retired from his profession about 1860 and from politics in 1865, He lived to be 85, retaining his mental faculties to the end, and died on 28 January 1875. He married and was survived by four sons and four daughters. Personally Fisher was a man of ready wit, humour and courtesy, who filled the positions of speaker and president with impartiality and distinction. He was knighted in 1860.

was born at Barningham, Suffolk, on 9 November 1832. His father was a prosperous landowner, his mother a daughter of the Rev. John Reynolds, a woman of ability and personality. Fison was sent to a good school at Sheffield, proceeded from there to Cambridge where he read with a tutor before becoming a student of Caius College in 1855. In the following year he went to Australia and while at the diggings the news of the unexpected death of his father led to his conversion to active Christianity. He went to Melbourne, joined the Methodist church, and after some further study at the university of Melbourne offered himself for missionary service in Fiji. He was ordained a minister and sailed for Fiji in 1864. His first term as a missionary, which lasted for seven years, was very successful. The Rev. George Brown in an article in the Australasian Methodist Missionary Review said that Fison was "one of the best missionaries whom God has ever given to our church". His honesty, kindliness, tact and commonsense were appreciated alike by government officials, white settlers, and the natives themselves. He became much interested in Fijian customs and in 1870 was able to give Lewis H. Morgan, the well-known American ethnologist, some interesting information relating to the Tongan and Fijian systems of relationship. This was incorporated as a supplement to part III of Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity published in 1871. When Fison returned to Australia in that year he began investigating similar problems in connexion with the aborigines. This led to his becoming acquainted with Alfred William Howitt (q.v.) with whom he was afterwards to do such valuable work in Australian anthropology.

Fison returned to Fiji in 1875 and, when the training institution for natives was established, he became its principal. He did excellent work and the effects of his influence on the Fijians was long felt. He published a life of Christ Ai Tukutuku Kei Jisu and also wrote a valuable pamphlet on the native system of land tenure in Fiji. This little treatise became a classic of its kind and was reprinted by the government printer, Fiji, more than 20 years later. Though so far away he continued his study of the Australian aborigines, his preface to Kamilaroi marriage descent and relationships in Kamilaroi and Kurnai (1880), by Lorimer Fison and A. W. Howitt is dated Fiji, August 1878. The materials for the interesting legends afterwards published under the title of Tales from Old Fiji (1904), were also collected about this time.

Fison returned to Australia in 1884 and for most of the remainder of his life lived near Melbourne. From 1888 to 1905 he edited the Spectator and made it one of the best Melbourne church papers. At the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Hobart in 1892 he was president of the anthropological section, and from the chair, with charming candour, pointed out that a theory of the Kurnai system, which he had worked out with infinite pains in Kamilaroi and Kurnai, was "not worth a rush". In 1894 he visited England and attended the meeting of the British association at Oxford. There he met Max Müller, Professor Tylor and many other distinguished scientists. At Cambridge he became acquainted with Dr afterwards Sir James Frazer who was much impressed by his frank and manly nature. Fison continued to do a large amount of journalistic work and even when he was past 70 years of age had to work very hard to make a bare living. In 1905 he was granted a civil list pension of £150 a year by the British government. He had now become very feeble in body though his mind retained its keenness. He died on 29 December 1907. Before going to Fiji Fison had married Jane Thomas of Pembroke, Wales, who survived him with two sons and four daughters.

Fison was six feet in height, "a big burly man, powerfully and heavily built, with a jolly good-humoured face, a bluff almost jovial manner, tender-hearted but bubbling over with humour, on which the remembrance of his clerical profession, as well as his deep, absolutely unaffected piety, perhaps imposed a certain restraint". (Sir James G. Frazer, Folk Lore, 1909, p. 172.) He was a great missionary, an excellent journalist, and with Howitt he did remarkable pioneer work on the Australian aborigines which carries the respect of all scientists and can never be entirely forgotten.

the son of a schoolmaster, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1842. He came with his parents to Australia in 1854 and his father died soon after. Fitchett first worked in a quarry near Geelong, then became a jackeroo on a station in Queensland, and largely self-educated, entered the Methodist ministry in 1866. His first charge was at Mortlake, Victoria, and for 16 years he was a circuit minister at Echuca, Bendigo, South Yarra and Hawthorn. He continued his studies after entering the ministry and in 1876 took the degree of B.A. at the university of Melbourne. In 1878 he moved and carried a resolution at the Methodist conference that a committee should be appointed to seriously consider the question of starting a secondary school which would do for girls what Wesley College was doing for boys. Nothing was done but in the following year he became secretary of a new committee which, after three years work, succeeded in starting the Methodist Ladies' College at Hawthorn. The financial difficulties were great but they were overcome, Fitchett became the first principal and held the position for 46 years. Under his guidance it developed into one of the largest and most successful girls' schools in Australia.

Fitchett at this period had already entered journalism having during the seventies, contributed a regular column to the Spectator, the Methodist church paper, signed XYZ. Some time later he became editor of the Southern Cross, a Sunday magazine for the home, and held this position until his death, a period of over 40 years. Articles by him appeared in its pages a month before he died. But what brought him really before the general public was a series of articles which were published in the Melbourne Argus under the title of Deeds that Won the Empire. They were collected and published in book form in Melbourne in 1896 and by Smith Elder and Company, London, in 1897. The book eventually ran into 35 editions and about 250,000 copies were sold. Similar volumes followed in steady succession, Wellington's Men (1900), The Tale of the Great Mutiny (1901), Nelson and his Captains (1902), Fights for the Flag (1909), How England Saved Europe, 4 vols. (1909), The Great Duke, 2 vols. (1911), The New World of the South (1913). Interspersed with these were three Volumes of fiction, The Commander of the Hirondelle (1904), Ithuriel's Spear (1906), A Pawn in the Game (1908), and four books with a religious interest, The Unrealized Logic of Religion (1905), Wesley and his Century (1906), The Beliefs of Unbelief (1908), Where the Higher Criticism Fails (1922). Other literary work included the editorships of the Australasian Review of Reviews, and of Life a popular magazine, the first number of which appeared in 1904.

These activities were not allowed to interfere with his life-work. First and foremost he was principal of a great school for girls steadily expanding, with problems continually arising which required his careful attention. His writing was done in the early hours of the day much of it before breakfast, and the Methodist Church as a whole called for much interest and thought. Towards the end of the nineteenth century it was split into five sections and many efforts were made to bring a union of them about. In 1895 Fitchett, as president of the conference of 1895, organized a public demonstration in favour of the union. The question came up again at successive yearly conferences, but it was difficult to obtain the requisite two-thirds majority. In 1898 union was decided upon, the necessary act of parliament was passed, and at the conference of 1902 the union was accomplished and Fitchett was elected the first president of the united church. Another of his interests was the public library of Victoria of which he was a trustee for 35 years. Working until the last month of his life, he died after a short illness on 25 May 1928. He married (1) in 1870 Clara Shaw who died in 1915 (2) the widow of the Rev. William Williams who survived him with five sons and one daughter of the first marriage. A brother, Dr Frederick Fitchett, C.M.G., was at one time attorney-general of New Zealand, and another brother, Dr Alfred Fitchett, was dean of Dunedin, New Zealand.

Fitchett's versatility was remarkable. He was an excellent debater and leader at church conferences, a preacher of extraordinary ability with a special appeal to young people, a successful administrator of a great girls' school from its inception to the time when it had a roll of over 700 pupils, a first-rate man of business, a capable editor of different types of magazines, and a competent writer of stories like the Commander of the Hirondelle. His books on religion are interesting though Where the Higher Criticism Fails, written away from his library, is one of his least worthy books, Wesley and his Century is, however, an able piece of work which became a textbook in the leading Methodist theological colleges in the United States of America. He had the faults of a man who writes too quickly, but he made a well-deserved reputation as a great man in his church, and in his own way he was an almost incomparable journalist and popular historian.

son of Robert David FitzGerald, a banker, was born at Tralee, Ireland, on 30 November 1830. When a boy he became interested in ornithology, continued his study of it while doing a civil engineering course at Queen's College, Cork, and became a good taxidermist. He emigrated to Sydney in 1856, and in August of that year joined the staff of the lands department. In 1864 while on a trip to Wallis Lake he became much interested in the orchids he found on its shores. He began studying them, received some assistance from William Carron of the botanic gardens, Sydney, and later on had some correspondence with Darwin. Several references to FitzGerald will be found in the second edition of Darwin's book on the fertilization of orchids. FitzGerald became deputy surveyor-general in 1873, and while in this position succeeded in having permanently reserved for the public the areas fronting the Katoomba, Leura, and Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, and reservations were also made in other parts of the country.

In 1875 FitzGerald published the first part of his great book on Australian Orchids. Other parts were issued at intervals and the first volume was published in 1882 and dedicated to the memory of Charles Darwin. In the first part the illustrations were in monochrome drawn by FitzGerald, but in the second part they began to be coloured. The intention was merely to reproduce the originals in facsimile, but FitzGerald had an artist's eye for colour and the illustrations are beautifully done. They were drawn in the spare time of a busy public servant in a growing department, but in 1884 the passing of the crown lands act led to the work of his department being decentralized. Fifteen district offices were created and, on a commission being appointed, of which FitzGerald was a member, to inquire into the conduct of the department at Sydney, it was found necessary to retire a large number of senior officers. This inquiry was a cause of great worry to FitzGerald, his own health became affected, and he retired on a pension in 1887. He continued working on his book until his death at Hunter's Hill, Sydney, on 12 August 1892. He married Emily Hunt and was survived by three sons and three daughters. His grandson, Robert David FitzGerald, born in 1902 became a well-known Australian poet. At the time of FitzGerald's death four parts of his second volume had been published and a fifth was in preparation . This was completed by Henry Deane (q.v.) and Arthur J. Stopps, the lithographer of many of the earlier plates.

FitzGerald was an amiable and versatile man, an excellent departmental officer, a surveyor, civil engineer, geologist, ornithologist and botanist of great ability. He will always be remembered for his great work on Australian orchids, and is commemorated in the following species:--Sarcochilus Fitzgeraldi, Dracophyllum Fitzgeraldi, and Eugenia Fitzgeraldi.

son of John FitzGerald of Trinity College, Dublin, was born at Tullamore, Ireland, on 1 August 1838. He was educated at St Mary's College, Kingston, and studied for the medical profession at Mercer's hospital, Dublin. He passed his examination for licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, in 1857 and in the following year went to Australia. He arrived in Melbourne on 7 July and shortly afterwards was appointed house surgeon to the Melbourne hospital. In 1860 he began to practise in Lonsdale-street, where he afterwards established a private hospital, and in the same year he was elected full surgeon to the Melbourne hospital, a position he held for over 40 years. His reputation as a surgeon grew steadily and it eventually spread all over Australia. He was rapid, resourceful and successful in the operations that were possible at that period, and invented original methods such as the subcutaneous introduction of gold wire in cases of inguinal hernia and fractured patella, special appliances in operating for cleft palate, and an original method in the operation for talipes. To his dexterity as an operator was joined remarkable skill in diagnosis, it seemed almost to be an extra sense and he could describe the position of fragments of a fracture as though he could see it in an X-ray skiagraph. In 1884 FitzGerald visited Ireland and obtained the diploma of fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He was twice president of the Medical Society of Victoria, and in 1889 was elected president of the Australasian medical congress. In 1900 he went to the South African war as a consultant surgeon to the Imperial forces. An account of his visit was published in the Intercolonial Medical Journal of Australasia for December 1900. Soon after his return FitzGerald relinquished much of his private practice and retired from hospital work. His health began to fail and a voyage to Europe gave him little benefit. He died at sea while on a voyage to Cairns, Queensland, on 8 July 1908. He married Margaret, daughter of James Robertson, who predeceased him, and was survived by three daughters. He was knighted in 1897; C.B. 1900.

FitzGerald was slightly below medium height with a fine head and natural dignity of manner. Though a man of great rapidity of thought he was not expansive in conversation, and his pupils learned more from what he did than from what he said. He was extremely active, played tennis regularly until late in life, and did much riding and driving. Under the name of T. Naghten he bred and raced horses with some success. His surgical life covered a period in which the arts of surgery and medicine were revolutionized. In an interesting presidential address to the Medical Society of Victoria delivered in January 1900, FitzGerald reviewed some of the changes that had occurred in the previous 40 years. "Will such a difference ever re-occur", he said. "Shall we ever again go through such a period of unlearning, such a period of relinquishing beliefs, of learning that almost all those remedies in which we at one time had so much faith, were in reality delusions, more harmful than beneficial." In his own branch he felt that it was "not until 1874, about 10 years after Lister had commenced his experiments, that things began to wake up in operative surgery . . . In some respects, perhaps no art or science has had so much to unlearn as ours". It was possibly his recognition of this that helped to make FitzGerald so great a surgeon. Though he had made a reputation at an early age and had gained some renown for methods he had himself introduced, he refused to get into a rut, and kept abreast of all the advances in surgical knowledge. At the time of his death two old friends and pupils (Sir) H. B. Allen (q.v.) and (Sir) G. A. Syme (q.v.) wrote appreciations of him and his work in which both speak of him as "a genius".

third son of Gibbon Carew FitzGibbon, a descendant of the White Knight, was born at Cork, Ireland, in 1825. When about five Years old he was taken to London where he was educated privately; he never went to a school. He was employed by a committee of the privy council on education, and at one time contemplated entering the Anglican ministry. He emigrated to Australia in 1852 and spent about a year on the diggings, but coming to Melbourne to meet a brother, he obtained a position as proof reader of the papers of the legislative council. In 1854 he entered the office of the Melbourne city council and in 1856 became acting town clerk. The mayor, J. T. Smith (q.v.), was anxious that John Rae (q.v.) of Sydney should be the new town clerk, but it was decided that the position should be given to FitzGibbon, and he held it with great ability for 35 years. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1860, but never practised. His legal knowledge, however, proved useful in the framing of regulations, and he twice appeared at the bar of parliament to argue for bills in which the city council was interested. In the early years of the Victorian constitution the parliamentary machine worked badly, and in 1872 FitzGibbon published a pamphlet, Government by Committee, which was followed in 1875 by Parliamentary Reform, aimed to defeat the party wrangling of the period. In 1876 he visited Europe and prepared a report on sewerage, tramways, markets, water and gas supply, which was also published as a pamphlet. He had early impressed his personality on the councillors and one writer of the period summed up the position in a couplet "Of power I shall demand the lion's share. I'll be FitzGibbon; you can be the mayor". FitzGibbon in fact did not hesitate to rise from his chair and courteously set the council right if he found it straying on to a wrong track. In 1879 at the time of the parliamentary deadlock FitzGibbon published another pamphlet What Next? and tried to supply the answer with a plan for the two houses sitting together. In 1891 when the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was constituted FitzGibbon was appointed chairman for a period of four years, and in spite of his advanced age, he was reappointed for the same term on three occasions. In 1904 he was involved in a carriage accident from the effects of which he never completely recovered; though he continued to carry on his work until a few weeks before his death in the early hours of 12 December 1905. He married in 1873 Sarah, daughter of Richard Dawson, who died in 1899. He was survived by five sons. In addition to the pamphlets mentioned, FitzGibbon published in 1884 a reply to the theories of Henry George, Essence of "Progress and Poverty", and in 1893 appeared Party Government and Suggestions for Better.

FitzGibbon was a fluent speaker with a masterful personality, which mellowed as he grew older. He was an excellent town clerk and set a standard of absolute integrity in municipal government. Though criticized as chairman of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works by a section of the press in Melbourne, his work was of great value especially in regard to the prevention of the alienation of land in the watersheds. He was created C.M.G. in 1892. There is a statue to his memory in the St Kilda-road, Melbourne.

son of General Lord Charles Fitzroy, second son of the third Duke of Grafton, was born on 10 May 1796. He entered the army and was gazetted lieutenant in 1812 and captain in 1820. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1825 and made deputy adjutant-general at the Cape of Good Hope. Returning to England he was elected to the house of commons in 1831. He retired from the army, was knighted in 1837, and in the same year appointed lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward Island. Four years later he became governor and commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands. In 1845 he was appointed governor of New South Wales. His predecessor Sir George Gipps (q.v.) had been a strong governor who had incurred the enmity of many of the colonists. It is not unlikely that one of the reasons for the appointment of Fitzroy was that he was likely to be more conciliatory in his methods.

Fitzroy, who had married in 1820 Lady Mary Lennox, daughter of the fourth Duke of Richmond, arrived at Sydney with his wife and son George on 2 August 1846. Another son and a daughter arrived later. Almost immediately he was asked to use his influence to procure the disallowance of an act of the Tasmanian legislature imposing a duty of 15 per cent on products imported from New South Wales. Fitzroy brought before the British government the advisability of some superior functionary being appointed, to whom all measures passed by local legislatures should be referred before being assented to. In the long discussion over the separation of the Port Phillip district, Fitzroy showed tact and himself favoured bi-cameral legislatures for the new constitutions. The necessity of some kind of a federation between the various colonies was recognized, and as a step towards this Fitzroy was given a commission in 1850 appointing him governor-general of the Australian colonies. During his governorship great strides were made in the development of New South Wales. Transportation of convicts ceased, a university was founded at Sydney, a branch of the royal mint was established and responsible government was granted. Fitzroy terminated his governorship on 17 January 1855. The legislative council passed a complimentary farewell address, but it was not carried unanimously. In December 1847 his wife had died as the result of a carriage accident, and the subsequent conduct of Fitzroy and his two sons caused some scandal. When the address was brought forward Dr Lang (q.v.) moved an amendment stating that Fitzroy's administration had been "a uniform conspiracy against the rights of the people" and ending with a statement "that the moral influence which has emanated from government house during his excellency's term of office has been deleterious and baneful in the highest degree". Lang obtained only five supporters, but they included Charles Cowper (q.v.) and Henry Parkes (q.v.). After Fitzroy's return to England he married Margaret Gordon in December 1855. He died at London on 16 February 1858. He was created K.C.B. in 1854.

Whatever faults there may have been in Fitzroy's character, he was an impartial administrator who took much pain in making himself acquainted with the outlying parts of the colony. He was tactful and industrious, not afraid to accept responsibility when it was necessary, and generally bore his part well in a period of many transitions.

was the son of Captain Valentine Fleming and his wife Catherine, daughter of John Hunter Gowan. He was born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, in 1809 and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated with honours in 1834. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1838 and was appointed commissioner of insolvent debtors, Hobart, in 1841. He became solicitor-general in 1844, attorney-general in 1848, and chief justice of the supreme court of Tasmania in 1854. He retired on a pension of £1000 a year at the end of 1869 but was acting chief justice from 1872 to 1874, and from March to May 1874 administered the government. He died in England on 25 October 1884. He married (1) Elizabeth Oke, daughter of Charles Buckland, and (2) Fanny Maria, daughter of William Seccombe, who survived him. He was knighted in 1856.

was born at Auckland, New Zealand, in 1850. His father, the Rev. Joseph Horner Fletcher (1823-1890), a Methodist clergyman, came to Australia early in 1861, and, after a term of four years in Queensland, went to Sydney to become principal of Newington College, from 1865 to 1887. From this school his son went to the university of Sydney and graduated B.A. in 1870 and M.A. in 1876. Between these years he was a master at Wesley College, Melbourne, under Professor M. H. Irving (q.v.), in 1876 resigned this position and went to London, where he studied biology at a very inspiring period and took his B.Sc. degree at London university in 1879. In 1881 he decided to return to Australia, and, before leaving England, prepared a Catalogue of Papers and Works relating to the Mammalian orders, Marsupialla and Monotremata, which was published in Sydney soon after his arrival in 1881. There were no openings for young scientists in Sydney at this period, so Fletcher joined the staff of Newington College where his father was still principal. He was four years at the school and was a successful teacher, encouraging his pupils to find out things for themselves instead of merely trying to remember what their teacher had told them. During this period he joined the Linnean Society of New South Wales, met Sir William Macleay (q.v.), and in 1885 was given the position of director and librarian of the society. This title was afterwards changed to secretary. He entered on his duties on 1 January 1886 and for over 33 years devoted his life to the service of the society. During this period he edited 33 volumes of Proceedings with the greatest care. He also published in 1892 a selection of Sermons, Addresses and Essays by his father, with a biographical sketch, and in 1893 edited The Macleay Memorial Volume, for which he wrote an excellent memoir of Macleay. He had done some very good research work in connexion with the embryology of the marsupials, and on Australian earthworms. Later he took up the amphibia, on which he eventually became an authority. In January 1900 he was president of the biology section at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and chose for the subject of his address "The Rise and early Progress of our Knowledge of the Australian Fauna", a work of much value to all interested in the history of research in the natural history of Australia. In addition to being secretary of the Linnean Society and editor of its Proceedings, Fletcher was an executor of Macleay's will and he had much work in carrying out the provisions of it as financial and legal difficulties arose in connexion with the appointment of a bacteriologist and the foundation of the research fellowships. In later years he gave more and more time to botany, and did important work on acacias, grevilleas and Loranthaceae. On 31 March 1919 he resigned his position as secretary to the Linnean Society and was elected president in 1920 and 1921. His address on "The Society's Heritage from the Macleays", a very interesting record, occupies nearly 70 pages in volume XLV of the Proceedings. After an accident in 1922 he was much confined to his home for the remainder of his life. He overhauled and completed the arranging and labelling of his own zoological collection in 1923 before presenting it to the Australian museum, and died suddenly on 15 May 1926, leaving a widow. He was awarded the Clarke Memorial Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1921.

was born at Donington, Lincolnshire, England, on 16 March 1774. His father Matthew Flinders was a surgeon and a son of a surgeon, his mother's name was originally Susannah Ward. He was educated at the free school at Donington, which had been founded and endowed by Thomas Cowley in 1718, and at the Horbling Grammar School. In October 1789 he entered the royal navy having been in his own words, "induced to go to sea against the wishes of my friends from reading Robinson Crusoe". One friend who tried to restrain him was his uncle, John Flinders, who had himself been 11 years in the navy without having reached the rank of lieutenant. He concluded his letter of advice by saying that if the boy did decide to join he should study Euclid and the books on navigation of John Robertson and Hamilton Moore. It is probable that Flinders's early study of these books helped to make him the excellent cartographer he subsequently became. Flinders joined his first vessel, the Alert, in October 1789, from her was transferred to the Scipio, and in July 1790 he became a midshipman on the Bellerophon. In 1791 With his captain's concurrence he joined the Providence as midshipman, and served under Captain William Bligh (q.v.) who was making his second expedition to the South Seas. One of the objects of the expedition was to obtain breadfruit-trees for the West Indies, which was successfully accomplished in January 1793. Flinders had opportunities during this voyage of preparing charts and making astronomical observations, and generally fitting himself for the tasks he was to undertake later on. On his return he reported himself to his former chief, Captain Pasley, on the Bellerophon, and rejoined her. On her he took part in the naval battle fought off Brest on 1 June 1794, generally known in history as the glorious First of June. Flinders kept a diary and wrote in it a full and interesting account of this battle. He was never afterwards in action; his work was to lie in other directions.

In February 1794 Captain John Hunter (q.v.) was appointed governor of the infant settlement at Port Jackson. He sailed in February 1795 on the Reliance, and Flinders was on board as a mid- shipman. On the same vessel was George Bass (q.v.) as surgeon, another Lincolnshire man, with whom he became very friendly. Both were interested in maritime discovery, and soon after their arrival in Sydney began an exploring expedition along the coast and up George's River in a small boat called the Tom Thumb. The Reliance sailed for Norfolk Island in January 1796, and, when she returned in March, the two men, accompanied by a boy, made a second survey of the coast south of Sydney. They had bad weather and nearly went down in a gale, but found the entrance of Port Hacking and were back in Sydney nine days after their start. Flinders next went on the Reliance to Cape Town to obtain stock for the settlement, and as it was found on her return that the vessel was badly in need of repairs he had to remain on board, while Bass on 3 December 1797 went off on the voyage during which he discovered Bass Strait. In February 1798 the schooner Francis was sent by Hunter to rescue some sailors who had been wrecked on the Furneaux Islands, some 15 months before. "I sent in the schooner", said Hunter in a dispatch, Lieutenant Flinders of the Reliance (a young man well qualified) in order to give him an opportunity of making what observations he could amongst those islands." Flinders was then barely 24 years of age. He was away about five weeks, having discovered the Kent group and made a most interesting record of the bird and animal life found on the various islands. He also observed the strong set of the current westward which made him strongly suspect that a strait existed, but the terms of his commission did not allow him to investigate further. On his return to Sydney he discussed this with Bass who had just completed his famous voyage in a whaleboat which had practically settled the question, but it was not until September that the friends had an opportunity of putting it beyond all doubt. Hunter then gave Flinders command of the Norfolk, a leaky 25-ton sloop. Flinders and Bass were not inclined to grumble, they gladly received their commission "to sail beyond Furneaux Islands, and, should a strait be found, pass through it, and return by the south end of Van Diemen's Land". They started at daylight on 7 October 1798, and, having discovered Port Dalrymple, sailed through Bass Strait and round Tasmania, arriving at Sydney again on 12 January 1799. During the voyage much of the coast was surveyed for the first time, and Flinders's notes range from how best to bring a ship to anchorage in Twofold Bay, to an account of meeting Tasmanian aborigines. The discovery of Bass Strait, for so it was named after their return, was most important for it meant a considerable saving in the duration of ships' voyages from England. Flinders's next voyage along the southern coast of Queensland did not have important results, and in March 1800 he went back to England in the Reliance, now in a very leaky condition. He had been a midshipman when he left five years before and was now a lieutenant. His work was being recognized among the scientists of his time, and he had come especially under the notice of Sir Joseph Banks (q.v.). He dedicated to him his Observations on the Coasts of Van Diemen's Land, on Bass's Strait, etc., which was published in 1801. He also wrote to Banks offering to explore minutely the whole of the coasts of Australia, provided that the government would give him a proper ship. Banks used his influence and Earl Spencer the first lord of the admiralty was sympathetic. On 25 January 1801 Flinders was given command of a 334-ton sloop the Investigator, and on 16 February he was promoted to the rank of commander. Unfortunately the ship was an old one and she had not been long at sea before she became very leaky. She was, however, well stored and Flinders had a specially selected crew of 83. Attached to the expedition were Robert Brown (q.v.) as naturalist, Ferdinand Bauer (q.v.) botanical draftsman, and William Westall (q.v.) landscape and figure draftsman. It is pleasing to know that though England and France were then at war, the French minister of marine and colonies issued a passport to Flinders, and, as the Investigator was on a voyage of discovery which would extend human knowledge, French officers were commanded not to interfere with the ship, but on the contrary to assist it if necessary. On 17 April 1801, Flinders was married to Ann Chappell, and hoped that his wife would be allowed to accompany hint on his voyage, but the lords of the admiralty would not agree and he was reluctantly obliged to leave her in England. He did not receive his sailing orders until 17 July, and it was not until 6 December that he sighted Australia. He immediately began making a complete survey of the southern coast. Others had been before him as far as a point near the line dividing Western from South Australia, but no one had done the work so carefully as he was to do it. From this point he was the first to record the outline of the coast and the map is now strewn with the names of people associated with the expedition from the first lord of the admiralty downwards. When the well-known names gave out he was able to use place names from his native Lincolnshire. He explored Spencer's Gulf and the Gulf of St Vincent and a few days later, on 8 April 1802, a sail was seen on the horizon. It proved to be Le Géographe, under the command of Captain Nicolas Baudin, part of a scientific expedition sent out by the French government. The vessels hailed each other and Flinders had a boat hoisted out, and, accompanied by Brown who was a good French scholar, called on the French captain. They had an amicable interview and Flinders breakfasted with Baudin next morning. A few days later Baudin went to Kangaroo Island and Flinders continued his survey of the coast. His actual discovery work on this coast had been completed. Baudin had done the work from the mouth of the Murray eastward to Cape Banks, and Captain Grant (q.v.) in the Lady Nelson had followed the coast farther eastward until the turn towards Port Phillip. Flinders, continuing on his course in bad weather, found it prudent to keep well to the south and came upon King Island, which, however, had been discovered previously. With better weather he headed for the coast again, and on 26 April 1802 came to Port Phillip and congratulated himself on a new discovery, only to find on reaching Sydney that it had been discovered 10 weeks before by Lieutenant John Murray (q.v.) who had succeeded Grant on the Lady Nelson. Flinders carefully examined Port Phillip, but his stores were running low and in a few days he left for Sydney. He arrived on 9 May having completed one of the most important voyages of discovery in the history of Australia. Moreover he landed his crew in perfect health, a remarkable record in the days when scurvy was so great a scourge.

Flinders wasted no time before continuing his explorations, A few weeks were spent in refitting the Investigator, and on 22 July he journeyed north making many discoveries as he went. He passed through Torres Strait and skirted the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and, though his vessel was getting into a bad condition, he decided that there would be no more risk in continuing than in retracing his path. He eventually circumnavigated Australia and arrived at Port Jackson on 9 June 1803. His ship by now was in so bad a state that had they met with one severe gale it must have foundered. Another vessel had to be found and of those available the Porpoise appeared to be the best. She was not really a sound ship for exploration purposes, and it was decided that she should go to England with Flinders as a passenger, so that he might put his charts and journals before the admiralty and endeavour to obtain another more suitable vessel. On 17 August 1803 the Porpoise was wrecked about 740 miles north of Sydney. Ninety-four survivors were cast upon a small island little more than a sandbank. Fortunately a large amount of the stores was rescued, and it was decided that Flinders should take the largest boat available and go to Sydney for assistance. He started on 25 August and on his arrival the captain of the Rolla which was bound for China agreed to call at the island and take some of the survivors to Canton. The Francis was also sent to bring the remainder back to Sydney. Flinders took command of the Cumberland, a schooner of only 29 tons, so that he might sail for London with his charts and papers. Flinders was joyfully received on his arrival at the island, and with a crew of 10 he parted from the other relieving ships on 11 October and set out on his long cruise of 15,000 miles. He sailed through Torres Strait across the north of Australia and then south-west for the Cape of Good Hope. The little ship leaked badly and on 6 December 1803 he found that the only prudent course was to make for Ile-de-France (Mauritius). On his arrival he discovered that war had again broken out between England and France, but he had a passport which had been made out by the first consul and the king of England and hoped that all would be well. General Decaen, however, as governor of the island was not unnaturally suspicious, and first put Flinders under guard and then closely questioned him. Flinders unfortunately became affronted and declined to accept an invitation to dine with the governor and his wife. It is not improbable that if Flinders had accepted the invitation and talked the position over with the governor, his detention might have been short. As Flinders was so uncompromising, if not indeed even arrogant, General Decaen referred the matter to the French government which meant a probable delay of about 12 months.

Flinders was kept in close confinement at first and his health suffered, but on being transferred to what was known as the Garden Prison, a large house standing in two acres of ground, it improved again. No word was received from France, Napoleon had become emperor and Flinders's case was probably overlooked. He busied himself with improving his Latin, playing the flute, making a fair copy of the log of the Investigator, walking, and playing billiards. He received much courtesy from visiting French officers, and in August 1805 he was informed that if he wished he could live in the interior of the island. A home was found for him in the house of Madame D'Arifat at Wilhelm's Plains. He gave his parole that he would not go more than two leagues from his house, and conditions were made as pleasant as was possible for a man who was virtually a prisoner of war. He became friendly with his neighbours, was treated with kindness and courtesy, and having been given access to his papers, wrote the history of his voyages. Many efforts were made to bring about his release. A literary and philosophical society on the island addressed a memorial to the Institute of France with this object. The governor-general of India made a request to Decaen that Flinders might be released and allowed to go to India, and Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew tried to have him exchanged for a French officer. The truth may have been that Decaen was afraid that Flinders had learned too much about the condition of the defences of the island, and that if he were released a British expedition would have been sent to capture it. Even when he received in July 1807, what was practically an order of release, he decided as a matter of expediency for the good of his country, that he should postpone the carrying out of the order. Flinders might possibly have escaped but he would not break his parole, and his captivity dragged on. In June 1809 the British Fleet began to blockade the island, and early in the following year Decaen recognized that he could not hope to hold it much longer. Mr Hugh Hope was sent by the governor-general of India to negotiate for the exchange of prisoners, and on 15 March 1810 Flinders received a letter from him informing him that the governor had agreed to his being liberated. On 7 June he signed a parole agreeing not to act in any capacity against France during the war, his sword was given him, and on 13 June he sailed for India. He had been a captive for a little under six and a half years. A few days later he was transferred to the Otter which was going to Capetown, where he was delayed for some weeks. He arrived in England on 23 October 1810, after being away nine years and three months, and had an affecting reunion with his wife, who came up to London to meet him.

Flinders was well received in England. Banks gave a dinner in his honour, Bligh took him to see the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV, but he was anxious to get on with his charts, which are monuments of his unremitting care and knowledge. He completed the text of A Voyage to Terra Australis, but his health was failing towards the end of 1813, and he lived only long enough to see the book through the press. The first copy arrived on 18 July 1814, the day before he died, his wife placed it on the bed beside him, but he was not conscious of it. He died on 19 July 1814 at 14 London-street, Fitzroy Square, London, and was buried in the graveyard of St James, Hampstead Road. His grave is not now traceable. He was only 40 years of age, but the hardships of his voyages and the anxieties of his captivity, had made an old man of him. When he was 39 his wife wrote to a friend that he looked 70. He was 5 feet 6 inches in height, spare of frame, but well-proportioned. He had bright eyes and a commanding, almost stern look, which could not disguise the real kindliness of his character. One of the first things he did on his return was to procure the release of some French prisoners of war connected with families who had shown him kindness in his own captivity. He took great care of his men and their health, and, though he immortalized many of his friends by giving their names to geographical features of the coast, he never named anything after himself. He was the first to systematically use the name Australia, and after the publication of his book, the name was gradually adopted, although New Holland was sometimes used up to the middle of the nineteenth century. He was a great seaman who successfully brought ships home that were utterly unseaworthy, and was one of the great cartographers and discoverers of the world. When he died the applications of Banks and others for a special pension for the widow and the daughter that had been born in 1812 were refused. Mrs Flinders received no more than the trifling pension of a post-captain's widow until she died in 1852. In 1853 the governments of New South Wales and Victoria, not being aware of her death, each voted a pension of £100 a year to her with reversion to her daughter, Mrs Petrie. In her letter of thanks, Mrs Petrie expressed her extreme gratification that the pension would enable her "to educate my young son in a manner worthy of the name he bears Matthew Flinders". That son became Professor Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) the distinguished Egyptologist. In 1877 Mrs Petrie presented the manuscript of her father's Narrative of an Expedition to Furneaux Islands to the public library of Victoria, and Professor Flinders Petrie also presented other valuable manuscripts relating to his grandfather to the same institution. The Mitchell Library at Sydney has a most important collection of Flinders's manuscripts, including two of the three volumes of the log of the Investigator, his private diary from December 1803 to July 1814, and four letter-books 1801-14. Most of these manuscripts were presented by Professor Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie. In addition to Flinders's two published books he wrote a valuable paper "0bservations on the Marine Barometer" which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society In 1806. There are three statues of Flinders in Australia. One by W. R. Colton. R.A., stands at the west end of the Mitchell Library, Syd

DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY

Angus and Robertson--1949

F

FAIRBAIRN, STEPHEN (1862-1938), always known as Steve Fairbairn,

FAIRBRIDGE, KINGSLEY OGILVIE (1885-1924),

FAIRFAX, JOHN (1804-1877),

FARJEON, BENJAMIN LEOPOLD (1838-1903),

FARNELL, JAMES SQUIRE (1827-1888),

FARRELL, JOHN (1851-1904),

FARRER, WILLIAM JAMES (1845-1906),

FAVENC, ERNEST (c. 1846-1908),

FAWKNER, JOHN PASCOE (1792-1869),

FELTON, ALFRED (1831-1904),

FIELD, BARRON (1786-1846),

FINCH-HATTON, HAROLD HENEAGE (1856-1904),

FINK, THEODORE (1855-1942),

FINN, EDMUND (1819-1898),

FINNISS, BOYLE TRAVERS (1807-1893),

FISHER, ANDREW (1862-1928),

FISHER, SIR JAMES HURTLE (c. 1789-1875),

FISON, REV. LORIMER (1832-1907),

FITCHETT, WILLIAM HENRY (1842-1928),

FITZGERALD, ROBERT DAVID (1830-1892),

FITZGERALD, SIR THOMAS NAGHTEN (1838 1908),

FITZGIBBON, EDMOND GERALD (1825-1905),

FITZROY, SIR CHARLES AUGUSTUS (1796-1858),

FLEMING, SIR VALENTINE (1809-1884),

FLETCHER, JOSEPH JAMES (1850-1926),

FLINDERS, MATTHEW (1774-1814),