Project Gutenberg Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership

BROWSE the site for other works by this author (and our other authors) or get HELP Reading, Downloading and Converting files) or SEARCH the entire site with Google Site Search

Home Our FREE ebooks Search Site Site Map Contact Us Reading, Downloading and Converting files

EARDLEY-WILMOT, SIR JOHN EARDLEY. See WILMOT, SIR JOHN EARDLEY EARDLEY-.

EARLE, AUGUSTUS (c.1790-c.1839), artist,

son of James Earle (1761-96), an American artist of ability who was living in London between about 1780 and 1796 (Dict. of American Biog. vol. V under Earle Ralph). Augustus Earle was born about 1790, and following his father's profession exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1806. Six other pictures by him were shown at the academy between 1808 and 1835. He travelled in the Mediterranean, returned to England in 1817, and then went to the United States where he stayed for two years. In February 1820 he went to Rio de Janeiro, and spent about a year in various parts of South America before returning to Rio de Janeiro. There he stayed until the beginning of 1824 when he left for Calcutta. On the way his vessel called at the island of Tristan D'Acunha where he was marooned for several weeks, his ship sailing while he was on shore. He was taken off by a ship on its way to Tasmania, and arrived at Hobart on 18 January 1825. After a stay of about nine months he went to Sydney, where he lived for about two years. He did much painting in watercolours and obtained commissions for portraits from several of the leading colonists. In 1827 he sent a set of eight paintings of Sydney to London to be used for Robert Burford's panorama of Sydney. A similar set of Hobart views was forwarded in the same year. On 20 October 1827 Earle left for New Zealand where he spent several months before returning to Sydney. On 12 October 1828 he left Sydney and went to Madras, where he was successful as a portrait painter, but his health broke down and he was compelled to return to England. In 1830 he published Views in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, Australian Scrap Book. The eight views were all of New South Wales subjects. At the end of December 1831 he left England as draughtsman on the Beagle, which was making a surveying voyage with Darwin as its naturalist. Earle's health became so bad that he was unable to remain on board after August 1832. His place was taken by Conrad Martens (q.v.). Earle stayed at Monte Video for some months and then returned to England. He had two pictures in the 1837 Academy and one in the 1838 exhibition. His A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand had been published in London in 1832 and in 1838 appeared Sketches Illustrative of the Native Inhabitants and Islands of New Zealand. Earle died between 1838 and 1840. There is a portrait by him of Captain John Piper (q.v.) at the Mitchell library. A collection of 160 water-colour drawings by Earle, chiefly of scenes in New South Wales and New Zealand, was sold by auction by Sotheby and Company, London, on 4 May 1926.

Dictionary of American Biography, vol. V, under Earle, James and Earle, Ralph; Introduction to Earle's A Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand; Sir William Dixson, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. V, pp. 287-291; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, vol. II; Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, vol. II, p. 20; Catalogue of an Important Collection of Water-Colour Drawings by Augustus Earle.

EARLE, JOHN (1865-1932), first labour premier of Tasmania,

was born at Bridgewater, Tasmania, in 1865. Leaving his father's farm at the age of 17 he obtained employment at Kennedy's foundry, Hobart, attended a night school and obtained some knowledge of mechanical engineering. In 1887 he went to the east and north-east coasts of Tasmania, and for four years worked at tin-mining, prospecting, engine-driving, and blacksmithing. He went to Zeehan in 1891, and stayed for several years until attracted by the Corinna gold-rush. Returning to Zeehan about 1898 he was elected president of the Amalgamated Miners' Association of Victoria and Tasmania, and represented this association at several annual conferences. He was also a member of the local council and chairman of the hospital board. In 1903 he stood for Waratah in an election for the house of assembly, but was defeated by three votes. He, however, won the seat three years later, and was elected leader of the first Tasmanian labour party. He was re-elected to this position every year for 10 years. He was leader of the opposition in 1909, and on 20 October formed a ministry which, however, lasted only seven days. On 6 April 1914 he became premier and attorney-general and held office until 15 April 1916. This ministry was responsible for the acquisition from Complex Ores Company Limited of a hydro-electric undertaking, which on account of the cheap power has been a factor in the development of industries in Tasmania. While leader of the opposition Earle addressed meetings in favour of conscription and was expelled from the labour party. In March 1917 he was elected by the Tasmanian parliament to fill a vacancy in the senate, and at the 1917 election he was a nationalist candidate and was returned as one of the Tasmanian senators. He became vice-president of the executive council in the W. M. Hughes ministry from December 1921 to February 1923. He was defeated at the senate election held in December 1922, and again in 1926, as a nationalist candidate. In 1928 he stood for the house of assembly as an independent candidate at his old constituency, but was again unsuccessful. He died at Kettering, Tasmania, on 6 February 1932. He left a widow but there were no children.

The Examiner, Launceston, 8 February 1932; The Mercury, Hobart, 8 February 1932.

EDGAR, ALEXANDER ROBERT (1850-1914), methodist missioner,

second son of Edward and Mary Edgar, was born in the county of Tipperary, Ireland, on 8 April 1850. He came to Melbourne with his parents in February 1855, and about two years later his family settled at St Arnaud, then a small mining town. He attended the local school until he was about 14, when he became a pupil teacher in it. The salary being small he resigned and tried gold-digging, but he had outgrown his strength and found the work too hard. A year of tutoring followed, and then gold-mining again, farming work, quarrying, and other occupations, until in 1870 he obtained a share in a gold-mine which gave very good returns. His people belonged to the Anglican church, but when about 17 years old, Edgar came under the influence of a Methodist minister, the Rev. A. Stubbs, and two years later made up his mind that if possible he would enter the church. He became a teacher in a Sunday school and then a local preacher. In September 1871 he was nominated as a candidate for the Methodist ministry, and in April 1872 began his training at the provisional theological institute at Wesley College, Melbourne. In April 1874 he received his first appointment and began his probationary ministry at Kangaroo Flat, where he spent two years before his transfer to Inglewood. In 1878, having completed his probationary period, he was ordained at Wesley church, Melbourne. In April 1879 he joined the Forest-street circuit at Bendigo, and this was followed by other ministries at Ballarat, Port Melbourne, Geelong West and Geelong. Everywhere he showed his power of attracting people to him and to his church. He had proved his worth during his 19 years in the ministry, but at 43 years of age he was only on the threshold of his greatest work. About this time the future of Wesley church, Melbourne, was giving great anxiety. It was on the edge of a slum neighbourhood and for some years the congregation had been steadily declining. About the end of 1892 it was decided to found a central mission, and that Edgar should be its superintendent. In April 1893 Edgar took up his new work. He had no defined plans, but after a few weeks began the series of afternoon conferences afterwards known as the "Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Service". The question of sweating in the clothing and other trades was causing much interest about this time, and after accompanying a deputation to the premier of Victoria, Edgar called a meeting one Sunday afternoon at Wesley church, when the evils of the system were placed before the audience by several speakers. Another meeting was held a week later and largely as a result of them a royal commission was appointed to investigate and report. When wages boards began to be appointed to regulate wages and working conditions, Edgar was appointed chairman of the first one, the white workers' board, and proved to be a valuable arbitrator. Many social evils were discussed at the Sunday afternoon services, and sometimes much opposition was aroused. But Edgar went on his way, he had intimate knowledge of the difficulties of the lower paid workers, and not a little of the advanced legislation of the period drew its inspiration from speakers at his church. It was a period of depression following a financial crisis, and Edgar opened a free labour bureau, gave a home to committees of unemployed that were formed, and did much organizing in connexion with relief measures. Living close to a slum district of bad reputation, he met with many difficult problems. A "Sisterhood" was formed which did valuable work in connexion with children and outcast women, and in 1895 the South Yarra home for unfortunate women was taken over. A hospice for men was opened in Lonsdale-street which was afterwards removed to La Trobe-street, and finally to Arden-street, North Melbourne. Later a Boys' Farm was established at Burwood, where hundreds of boys were trained into good citizens. Edgar had much experience of the evils arising from drunkenness and drug-taking, and arranged to take over a system known as the bichloride of gold treatment, which under the supervision of qualified medical men was found helpful in some cases. In 1913 Edgar's health gave way and, though relieved of much of his work, he gradually sank, and died at Melbourne on 23 April 1914. He married in April 1878 Catherine Haslam who survived him with two daughters.

Edgar, a big man physically, had a good voice and a magnetic attraction for all types of men. He had boundless charity, and though often disappointed spent his life in giving men another chance. The loss of several children by death in the closing years of his life could not shake his faith, though it may have made him understand more fully the sorrows of others. A memorial tablet in Wesley church, Melbourne, has the simple inscription "A friend of the people". There is also a stained-glass window to his memory in the same church.

W. J. Palamountain, A. R. Edgar: A Methodist Greatheart; The Age and The Argus, Melbourne, 24 April 1914; C. Irving Benson, A Century of Victorian Methodism.

EDMENTS, ALFRED (1853-1909), public benefactor,

son of James Edments, a farmer who lost his farm and became a mason, was born in London in 1853. He had only a primary education and at an early age began to work for a firm of cork merchants. He left for Australia at the age of 19 and arrived at Sydney with two shillings and sixpence in his pocket. He obtained a position, saved a little money, began working as a peddler in a small way, and then opened a shop in Sydney where he sold goods by auction. He went to Melbourne in 1888 and started an auction room in Bourke-street. He also for a short period was a bookmaker, attending only the principal meetings, but found this did not suit his health and soon gave it up. He also gave up having auctions and opened a shop selling watches, clocks and fancy goods, which steadily prospered. He visited England in 1892 to arrange for direct buying, and after trying various locations, finally settled his place of business at 309 Bourke-street, Melbourne, in 1895. The business grew and Edments began to open branches in the suburbs and in Hobart, Tasmania. He kept a close watch on every detail, thoroughly trained his staff, and treated them with great consideration. Every employee had a fortnight's holiday on full pay, and when ill Edments continued to pay their salaries and often their medical fees. He himself worked very hard and his health began to cause anxiety when he was only in his early forties. He paid frequent visits to England and in 1898 opened a London office. For the last six months of his life he was compelled to manage his business from his home. He died at Melbourne on 13 July 1909. He married but had no children.

Alfred Edments started with no advantages and no capital, but he had a remarkable memory, and a keen sense of business. He believed in being satisfied with small profits and in treating his customers fairly; holding that one satisfied customer was worth a page of advertisements. He had no hobby, and his only exercise was walking. A kind-hearted man, he was fond of children and animals, especially horses, did many good deeds in an unostentatious way, and at his death left a large proportion of his considerable fortune to charity. This in 1940 amounted to about £150,000 and about £6000 is distributed every year.

Private information; information from The Trustees Executors and Agency Co. Ltd.

EDMOND, JAMES (1859-1933), journalist,

was born at Glasgow on 21 April 1859. As a child he had only a primary education, but in later years he did much reading at the Glasgow public library. He went to work when he was 12 years old, and at 16 was a clerk in a fire insurance office. In 1878 he emigrated to New Zealand and followed various occupations with little success. In 1882 he went to Victoria and then to Queensland. At Rockhampton in 1885 he obtained a position as proof-reader on the Morning Bulletin, and began to send contributions to the Sydney Bulletin. In 1886 Archibald (q.v.) invited him to join the staff and in 1890 he became associate-editor. He took charge of the Wild-Cat column in 1893, and, though he then had little knowledge of finance, quickly realized that in order to write about it intelligently, the necessary data must be available. He collected balance sheets, and years afterwards began that comparison of the current year's figures with those of earlier years, which has since been so generally adopted in financial columns in Australia. He was also one of the first men to realize how dangerous over-borrowing abroad could be, and for a long period consistently fought against it in the columns of the Bulletin. But he was far more than a writer on finance, he wrote humorous stories and sketches, leaders, dramatic criticism, paragraphs on all kinds of subjects and for some time a special column "The Brickbat slung by Titus Salt". In 1903 he became editor but still found time to do much writing.

Edmond was in many ways a good editor, but he had no conception of how an editor's work might be delegated. This was bad for the training of the staff and, as was inevitable in the circumstances, Edmond's health broke down while he was still in his middle fifties. He was compelled to retire in 1915 After four years' holiday he began to be a regular contributor again, but failing sight practically prevented him from working during the last seven years of his life. After a courageous struggle with ill-health Edmond died at Sydney on 21 March 1933. His wife, a son, and three daughters survived him. Of the enormous mass of his writings very little has been collected. A Policy for the Commonwealth, a reprint of a series of articles in the Bulletin, appeared in 1900, and in 1913 A Journalist and Two Bears, consisting mostly of humorous sketches from the Bulletin and the Lone Hand, was published. He had a great reputation as a humorist in his day which is now somewhat difficult to justify. He was associate-editor and editor of the Bulletin during the period when it was a power in the land, and did much in shaping its policy. He fought well for federation when it had little support in New South Wales, and his financial policy was generally sound. His strenuous writing against oversea borrowing had apparently little effect at the time, but the strong tendency in later years for governments to raise loans in Australia instead of overseas may have been largely a result of his work.

The Bulletin, 29 January 1930, 29 March 1933; The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 March 1933; Zora Cross, An Introduction to the Study of Australian Literature, p. 20; Dorothy J. Hopkins, Hop of the "Bulletin".

ELDER, SIR THOMAS (1818-1897), pastoralist and public benefactor,

fourth son of George Elder, merchant, was born at Kirkcaldy, Scotland, in 1818. His elder brother, Alexander Lang Elder (1815-85), went to South Australia in 1839 and founded the firm of Elder and Company at Adelaide. In August 1851 he was elected a member of the legislative council for West Adelaide but resigned his seat in March 1853, and returned to England to become the London representative of Elder and Company. He died there on 5 September 1885. Thomas Elder came to Adelaide in June 1854 and was given a share in the business of which later on he became the chief partner, In 1863 R. Barr Smith became a partner, and the business, now known as Elder Smith and Company, developed into one of the largest and most prosperous in Australia. Elder, however, had other important interests. He became associated with Peter Waite (q.v.) in the Paratoo run in 1862, in the same year bought Beltana station, and eventually became the owner of an enormous tract of country. He was said to have held at one time a pastoral area greater in extent than the whole of Scotland. Much of this was land with a very low rainfall, and Elder spent a great deal of money sinking artesian wells, making dams and fencing. In 1862 he introduced camels from India with Afghan attendants, which were of much use in the dry areas and in conveying supplies from Port Augusta. They became an important factor in the development of the northern area of South Australia. Elder encouraged exploration, contributed largely to Warburton's (q.v.) 1873 expedition and Giles's (q.v.) in 1875, supplying camels in each case, which proved to be of the greatest value. He also contributed liberally to the cost of other explorations, and in no case sought or obtained any return for himself. On one occasion he offered £5000 on condition that a like sum was subscribed by the public to finance an expedition to the Antarctic Ocean, but the condition was not fulfilled. Elder was also fortunate in his mining ventures. Early in the sixties he had large interests in the Moonta and Wallaroo copper-mines which brought hint in a fortune. He entered political life as a member of the legislative council in 1863 but retired in 1869. He was again elected in 1871, but resigned in 1878 and took no further part in politics. He had a severe illness in 1887 and shortly afterwards retired. Elder Smith and Company was formed into a public company, and Elder henceforth lived chiefly in the country. He died at Mount Lofty on 6 March 1897. He never married. He was knighted in 1878 and created G.C.M.G. in 1887.

Elder was much interested in horses and made the breeding of blood stock a hobby. He was a leading racing man between 1875 and 1884 and had the highest reputation. It was well-known that any horse bearing his colours was in the race to win. He sold his race-horses in 1884 but continued his stud. He supported every kind of manly sport and his benefactions both private and public were widespread and almost without limit. In 1874 he gave £20,000 towards an endowment fund for the university of Adelaide, and with later gifts and bequests the total amount received by this institution from him was just short of £100,000. The Elder conservatorium of music perpetuates his name. The art gallery at Adelaide received a bequest of £25,000, and many of the finest pictures of the gallery were purchased from this fund.

The South Australian Register and The Advertiser, Adelaide, 8 March 1897; Calendar of the University of Adelaide, 1940; Catalogue of the Art Gallery of South Australia; Burke's Peerage, etc., 1896.

ELLERY, ROBERT LEWIS JOHN (1827-1908), astronomer,

son of John Ellery, surgeon, was born at Cranleigh, Surrey, England, on 14 July 1827. He was educated at the local grammar school and qualified as a medical practitioner. He sailed for Victoria in 1851 attracted by the discovery of gold, and is stated to have practised as a physician at Williamstown near Melbourne. If so it could only have been for a very short period, as in 1853 the Victorian government decided to found an astronomical observatory, and in July of that year Ellery was placed in charge of it. He had known some members of the staff of Greenwich observatory and had learned the use of their instruments. The observatory was at first on a very modest scale, being housed in a small two-roomed cottage at Williamstown, and the only instruments were a sextant, an artificial horizon and a chronometer. However, by March 1854, a 30-inch transit instrument, a good astronomical clock and a time-ball apparatus had been added, and a few meteorological instruments were also obtained. The work that could possibly be done was not heavy, and Ellery also undertook for a time the duties of storekeeper of the marine depot. In 1856 he began a geodetic survey of Victoria which was not completed until 1874. At the beginning of 1858 the government founded another observatory known as the magnetic observatory on Flagstaff Hill, West Melbourne, under a distinguished German scientist, G. Neumayer (q.v.), who had applied for a site in the Domain south of the Yarra without success. Both Ellery and Neumayer found that the sites given them were quite unsuitable for their work, but it was not until 1863 that a move was made to the Domain. E. J. White, an able astronomer, was added to Ellery's staff in May 1860, and several valuable catalogues of stars were prepared and published. In 1868 a new telescope was sent out from England but the results obtained with it were unsatisfactory. Ellery, who had much mechanical ability, applied himself to the problems involved and the telescope ultimately did good work. At the end of 1890 another telescope arrived and Ellery began a new important piece of work, the preparation of the share allotted to Melbourne of the astrographic chart. He retired in 1895 and was succeeded by P. Baracchi.

In addition to his own work Ellery had much to do with educational and scientific bodies. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Victoria and its president from 1856 to 1884, became a trustee of the public library, museums and national gallery of Victoria in 1882, and was also for many years a member of the council of the university of Melbourne. He was interested in the volunteer movement and in 1873 organized the Victorian torpedo corps, afterwards the submarine mining engineers. He was in command until 1889, when he retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Melbourne in 1900, Ellery was elected president and chose as the subject of his address "A Brief History of the Beginnings and Growth of Astronomy in Australasia". Early in 1907 he had a paralytic stroke, but recovered well and was in fair health until shortly before his death at Melbourne on 14 January 1908. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, London, in 1873, and was created C.M.G. in 1889. He was married twice, to two sisters, daughters of Dr John Shields. He left a widow and a daughter. Ellery wrote many papers for scientific journals some of which were re-issued as pamphlets. Some of the catalogues of stars and other work done under his supervision at the observatory were published, but at the time of his death much remained in manuscript.

Ellery was little more than an amateur when he began, but his knowledge increased rapidly. Situated far away from capable workmen accustomed to scientific instruments, he surmounted many difficulties by his own ingenuity. As an instance it may be mentioned that late in life he learned to refigure and polish the mirrors of telescopes. In 1891 he successfully worked out the photographic exposures required to gain one or two magnitudes, at a time when the matter was in much doubt. An amiable, ingenious, hard-working man Ellery took high rank as a pioneer scientist in Australia.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, ser. A, Vol. 82, p. VI; The Argus, Melbourne, 15 January 1908; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; The Victorian Historical Magazine, vol. VI, p. 134; First Annual Report, Board of Visitors, Observatories; Victorian Parliamentary Papers, vol. III, 1860.

ELLIOTT, HAROLD EDWARD (1878-1931), general,

son of Thomas Elliott, was born at West Charlton, Victoria, on 19 June 1878. He was educated at Ballarat College and Ormond College, university of Melbourne, where he graduated B.A. and LL.M. sharing the final honours scholarship in law in 1906. Before this he had been at the war in South Africa from 1899 to 1902, in which he obtained a commission and the D.C.M. He was called to the Victorian bar in 1906 and established the firm of solicitors, H. E. Elliott and Company. He had joined the militia after the Boer War, held the rank of lieutenant-colonel when the 1914-18 war began, and was immediately given the same rank in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Forces. He left Australia in October 1914, was wounded at the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and rejoining his battalion in June was in the midst of the fighting at Lone Pine in August. He was promoted brigadier-general early in 1916 and before the disaster at Fromelles pointed out to Major Howard of the British staff that the width of No-man's Land was too great for the assault to succeed. But when the commander-in-chief decided that the operation must go on, Elliott did all that was possible to make it a success by himself going tip to the front line to encourage his men. At 11.30 of the night of the attack when asked if he could make a fresh attack he replied "cannot guarantee success of attack . . . but willing to try". An hour later he realized that the previous attacks had been a complete failure, reported to that effect, and that he was now organizing the defence of the original trenches. It has been stated that Elliott became intoxicated by danger, but he would not throw away his men uselessly. His brigade did magnificent work at Polygon Wood at the end of September 1917, Elliott proving to be an inspiring leader, and again at second Villers-Bretonneux in April 1918, at Peronne at the end of August, and at the Hindenburg Line a month later. Early in October the Australians were withdrawn for a rest and did not take part in any further fighting.

Elliott returned to Australia in June 1919 and at the general election held in that year was top of the poll at the election for the Victorian senators, and had the same position at the 1925 election. He sat on various committees but did not make any special mark as a politician. He was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1927 and died at Melbourne on 23 March 1931. He married in 1909 Catherine Fraser, daughter of Alexander Campbell, who survived him with a son and a daughter. Elliott was mentioned seven times in dispatches, was created C.M.G. in 1917, C.B. in 1918, and his orders included the D.S.O., the Order of St Anne of Russia, and the Croix de Guerre.

Elliott was a heavily-built man, outspoken, impulsive and headstrong, brave and vehement, who worked his troops harder than any other commander, and yet held their affection and respect. Familiarly known as "Pompey" or "The Old Man" he had their complete confidence, and they would attempt any dangerous task so long as they, understood that their commander thought its success was possible. His personality and driving power more than once was responsible for turning the tide of battle, and from the point of view of the ranker, no greater soldier fought in the war. He had, however, the faults of his qualities and would put into written reports criticisms of superior officers or reflections on other troops which caused trouble, and this more than anything else, was accountable for his not rising to higher command during the war.

C. E. W. Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, vols. I to VI; The Argus and The Age, Melbourne, 24 March 1931: A. D. Ellis, The Story of the Fifth Australian Division; Debrett's Peerage, etc., 1930; Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook, 1901-30.

ELLIS, HENRY AUGUSTUS (1861-1939), federalist and physician,

fourth son of Colonel Francis Ellis of County Tyrone, Ireland, was born on 24 July 1861. He was educated at St Columba's, county Tyrone and Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated M.B. in 1884, and Ch.B. in 1885. He then went to Australia, was a resident at Sydney hospital for two years, and from 1890 to 1894 was an honorary physician and surgeon to the hospital. He went to Coolgardie in 1894 and had charge of the government sanatorium there, took an intense interest in his work, in which he was most successful, and also interested himself in local politics and the federation movement. Western Australia did not take part in the referendum held in 1898, and the government under Forrest (q.v.) was opposed to the proposals for federation even so late as the end of 1899. On the goldfields, however, the feeling was strongly in favour of federation, and on 13 December 1899 a meeting of delegates was held which decided to send a petition to the queen praying for the establishment of a separate goldfields colony, which would become part of the Australian Commonwealth. Some 28,000 signatures were obtained to this petition and an immense amount of propaganda matter, mostly drafted by Ellis, was sent to the British press and members of the house of commons. As a result Chamberlain intimated to Forrest that if the electors of Western Australia were not given an opportunity of voting on the question of federation, the Imperial parliament would be compelled to consider seriously the request of the people of the goldfields. Parliament was called together, a referendum bill was passed, and eventually there was a large majority in favour of federation. In 1903 Ellis was elected to the Western Australian parliament and sat for three years, and In 1913 he returned to England.

Ellis was now 52 years of age, a late age to make a fresh start. During the war years he was tuberculosis officer in Middlesbrough, and in 1919 came to London as assistant physician at the Margaret-street hospital for diseases of the chest. Later he established a consultant practice in Harley-street which had much success. Part of this arose from his sympathetic understanding of the action of the mind on the body. He published in 1923 How shall I be saved from Consumption, and two short treatises followed, Reaction in Relation to Disease (1924), and An Explanation of Hydrogen Concentration (1925). He died after a long illness at Crowborough on 3 October 1939. He was twice married and left a widow.

Ellis was a man of unconventional personality and great ability; a colleague of his in later years said of him: "None of us was ever as young as Ellis; none of us will ever be as old." He never lost his freshness of outlook nor the wisdom which comes of experience. His work for federation in Western Australia was of great importance, and as a physician he showed the value of a combination of common sense and science, and an appreciation of the importance of the patient's psychology.

Sir John Kirwan, The West Australian, 24 February 1940; The British Medical Journal, 4 November and 2 December 1939; Sir John Kirwan, "Altering the Map of Australia", Review of Reviews, Australasian edition, January 1900.

ELLIS, HENRY HAVELOCK (1859-1939), his first name was never used, essayist and sociologist,

son of Edward Peppin Ellis and Susannah Mary Wheatley, was born at Croydon, then a small town south of London, on 2 February 1859. His father was a sea-captain, his mother, the daughter of a sea-captain, and many other relatives lived on or near the sea. At seven years of age his father took him on one of his voyages, during which he called at Sydney, Callao and Antwerp. After his return Ellis went to a fairly good school called the French and German College near Wimbledon, and afterwards to a school at Mitcham. In April 1875 he left London on his father's ship for Australia, and soon after his arrival at Sydney obtained a position as a master at a private school. It was discovered that he had had no training for this position and he became a tutor in a private family living a few miles from Carcoar. He spent there a happy year, reading many books, and then obtained a position as a master at the grammar school at Grafton. The headmaster died just as the school was opening and Ellis carried on the school for that year, but was too young and inexperienced to do so successfully. At the end of the year he returned to Sydney and, after three months training, was given charge of two government part-time elementary schools, one at Sparkes Creek and the other at Junction Creek. He lived happily and healthily at the schoolhouse at Sparkes Creek for a year, the most eventful year of his life he was afterwards to call it. "In Australia I gained health of body; I attained peace of soul; my life task was revealed to me; I was able to decide on a professional vocation; I became an artist in literature . . . these five points covered the whole activity of my life in the world. Some of them I should doubtless have reached without the aid of the Australian environment, scarcely all, and most of them I could never have achieved so completely if chance had not cast me into the solitude of the Liverpool Range." (My Life, p. 139).

Ellis returned to England and arrived there in April 1879. He had decided to take up the study of sex and felt his best step must be to qualify as a medical man. He taught at a school for a year to earn some money with which to make a start, and with some help from his people, eventually obtained his licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries in February 1889. He had for five years or more been doing literary work including the general editorship of the Mermaid Series of the works of the old dramatists. His first original book was The New Spirit (1890), which was followed by The Criminal (1890), The Nationalization of Health (1892), Man and Woman (1894), and Sexual Inversion, which afterwards became the second volume of the work by which he is most known, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, which appeared in 1897. The seventh and last volume was published in 1928. Other volumes of importance included Affirmations (1897), A Study of British Genius (1904), Impressions and Comments, three series (1914-24), Kanga Creek: An Australian Idyll, his one essay in fiction, begun in 1885 but not published until 1922, and The Dance of Life (1923). He also wrote much verse, but no volume was published until Sonnets and Folk Songs from the Spanish appeared in 1925. A practically complete list of his books and articles in periodicals up to 1928 will be found in Houston Peterson's Havelock Ellis, Philosopher of Love. His volumes after that date are listed at the end of My Life. Working almost to the end Ellis died on 8 July 1939. He married Edith Lees, also a writer, who died in 1916. There were no children.

Ellis was a man of remarkable and attractive personality who did an enormous amount of writing which gave him an established position as an author and a scientist. His Kanga Creek belongs to Australian literature, and has been called "the most delightful of bush idylls". (H. M. Green, An Outline of Australian Literature, p. 280).

Havelock Ellis, My Life; I. Goldberg, Havelock Ellis, A Biographical and Critical Survey; H. Peterson, Havelock Ellis, Philosopher of Love; The Times, 11 July 1939; Ed. by J. Ishill, Havelock Ellis in Appreciation.

EMBLEY, EDWARD HENRY (1861-1924), physician,

was born at Castlemaine, Victoria, in 1861. He was educated at the Bendigo high school and the university of Melbourne, where he graduated M.B., B.S. in 1889. He practised in Latrobe-street, Melbourne, and taking much interest in anaesthetics, gained the degree of M.D. in 1901 with a thesis on that subject. There had been various investigations into the question of the safe administration of anaesthetics, but Embley was not satisfied with the conclusions arrived at and made a comprehensive inquiry into the problem. In 1902 he was able to show "that heart muscle is very sensitive to chloroform poisoning, that this drug raises the excitability of the vagus, that deaths in the induction stage of anaesthesia are syncopal and unconcerned with respiration, that failure of respiration is mainly due to fall of blood pressure, and that in the post-indication stages of anaesthesia there is a general depression of all activities and no longer syncope through excited vagus action". (W. A. Osborne, The Medical Journal of Australia, 12 July 1924).

This was Embley's most important achievement, and the value of his work was widely recognized. He continued his investigations into various aspects of the subject for many years, and was honorary anaesthetist to the Melbourne hospital until 1917. Ill-health caused his retirement from practice in 1920 and he died at Melbourne after a long illness on 9 May 1924. He married and left a widow and two daughters. He was awarded the first David Syme research prize at the university of Melbourne in 1906.

The Argus and The Age, Melbourne, 12 May 1924. The Medical Journal of Australia, 12 July 1924.

ETHERIDGE, ROBERT, JUN. (1847-1920), palaeontologist,

only son of the distinguished palaeontologist, Robert Etheridge, F.R.S. (1819-1903), was born at Cheltenham, Gloucester, in 1847. He was educated at the royal school of mines, London, and during the 1860s came to Australia. He worked under A. R. C. Selwyn (q.v.) on the Victorian geological survey until it was terminated in 1869, and returned to England in 1871. Two years later he was appointed palaeontologist to the geological survey of Scotland, and in 1874 obtained a position in the geology department in the natural history museum at South Kensington. While there in co-operation with P. H. Carpenter he compiled a valuable Catalogue of the Blastoidea. He returned to Australia in 1887 and was given a dual position as palaeontologist to the geological survey of New South Wales and the Australian museum at Sydney. While in England he had had much correspondence with his friend Dr R Logan Jack (q.v.) who had sent him many Queensland fossils. From 1881 they worked together and in 1892 appeared The Geology and Palaeontology of Queensland and New Guinea, by Robert L. Jack and Robert Etheridge, Junior, an elaborate work with many plates and maps. Etheridge founded The Records of the Geological Survey, and published many papers on the fossils of the older strata. On 1 January 1895 he was appointed curator of the Australian museum, and in his hands the collection was much enriched and better displayed, and he initiated the Records of the Australian Museum. As he grew older he enlarged his interests to include ethnology. He wrote much on the manners and customs of the aborigines and gathered together a remarkable collection of native work for his museum. He also extended the usefulness of the museum by having popular science lectures and demonstrations for visitors. He died still in harness and working hard to the end on 4 January 1920. His wife predeceased him and he was survived by two sons. He wrote a large number of scientific papers of which about 350 were published. A list of his papers will be found in the Records of the Australian Museum, vol. XV, pp. 5 to 27. He was awarded the Wollaston Fund by the Geological Society of London in 1877, the Clarke medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1895, and the von Mueller medal by the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1911. Numerous species of animals, both fossil and recent, were named in his honour, and his name was also given to a goldfield in Queensland, a peak in the Kosciusko plateau, and a glacier in Antarctica.

Etheridge was of a retiring disposition averse from advertisement or publicity, content to live for his work. Hardly known at all to the man in the streets of Sydney, he had a high reputation in the world of science for his valuable work in the classification and correlation of the artesian waterbasins, coalfields, goldfields, and other mineral deposits of Australia. He was a great curator, thoroughly painstaking in the collection of facts but less interested in speculative work. His industry was remarkable and, in spite of failing health towards the end of his life, he never spared himself.

T. W. Edgeworth David and C. Hedley, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 9 January 1920; W. S. Dun, Records of the Australian Museum, vol. XV, pp. 1 to 5; The Geological Magazine, vol. LVII, p. 239; E. W. Skeats, Some Founders of Australian Geology, David Lecture, 1933.

EVANS, GEORGE ESSEX (1863-1909), poet,

was born in London on 18 June 1863. His father, John Evans, Q.C., who was for five years a member of the house of commons, died when the boy was only a few months old, and his education was directed by his mother. His schooldays were spent in Wales and at a college in Jersey, and when he was 17 years of age he emigrated to Queensland. He arrived in April 1881 and, after some experience on the land, obtained a position on the Queenslander. He entered the public service in 1888 and afterwards became district registrar at Toowoomba. His first volume, The Repentance of Magdalene Despar, was published in 1891, and in 1892 and 1893 he was associated with J. T. Ryan in the production of an annual, The Antipodean, which had good work in it. A third number appeared in 1897. In 1898 Loraine and other Verses was published, and in 1901 Evans won a prize of £50 for his "Ode for Commonwealth Day". Five years after The Secret Key and other Verses which included part of the Loraine volume, was published. During the last two years of his life Evans did much writing on the resources of his state for the Queensland government. He died at Toowoomba on 10 November 1909. He married in 1899 Mrs Blanche Hopkins who survived him with one son. An edition of his Collected Verse was published in 1928, and there is a monument to his memory in Webb Park, Toowoomba.

Evans was a good athlete and a man of much strength of character, with the sensitiveness of the poet. He unfortunately suffered from deafness all his life. He won a great reputation in his own state as a poet, and in their own way "An Australian Symphony" and the "Ode for Commonwealth Day" are both very good. He could write good swinging patriotic verse as in "Cymru", and "The Women of the West" is a good bush ballad. But as a rule he is not much better than a fluent writer of capable verse, and even in his better moments his epithets and thoughts are a little too close to the obvious to allow of his being given a high place among Australian poets.

F. McKinnon, Introduction, The Collected Verse of G. Essex Evans; The Courier, Brisbane, 11 November 1909; H. A. Kellow, Queensland Poets; E. Morris Miller, Australian Literature.

EVANS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1778-1852), explorer, [ also refer to George EVANS page at Project Gutenberg Australia]

was born at Warwick, England, in 1778. He came to Australia in October 1802, on 2 November was appointed a storekeeper at Parramatta, and in August 1803 became acting-surveyor-general of lands during the absence on leave of C. Grimes (q.v.). He was made deputy surveyor of lands at Port Dalrymple on 27 October 1809, and three years later was appointed deputy surveyor of lands at Hobart. He was recalled to Sydney in 1813 and on 19 November, accompanied by five men, one of whom had been with G. Blaxland's (q.v.) party at the first crossing of the blue mountains, began to follow the same track, taking seven days to reach the end of that journey. Four days later Evans reached the Fish River and for a week followed its course until he reached Campbell's River. On 9 December he came to the site of Bathurst, and on the 15th he was near Billiwinga. His farthest point near Chambers Creek was reached two days later. He began his return journey on 18 December 1813 and the Nepean River was reached three weeks later. Evans received £130 and a grant of land in Tasmania in recognition of his feat. The discovery of so great a tract of good land was of the utmost importance to the colony, Macquarie (q.v.) at once began making a road over the mountains, and on 7 May 1815 the town of Bathurst was founded. Six days later Evans, who had been recalled from Tasmania, started from this point on another expedition travelling mainly towards the west which led to the discovery of the Lachlan River. On 1 June he found himself running short of provisions and returned to Bathurst where he arrived on 12 June. Another valuable stretch of country fit for settlement had been discovered. Though Evans had now finished his work as an independent explorer, when John Oxley (q.v.) went on his journey of exploration in April 1817, Evans accompanied him as his lieutenant, held the same position during the second expedition which started in June 1818, and did his work worthily. Oxley, in his report dated 30 August 1817, spoke of "the obligations I am under to Mr Evans for his able advice and cordial co-operation throughout the expedition, and, as far as his previous researches had extended the accuracy and fidelity of his narrative was fully exemplified". He also commended Evans in his report on the second expedition. In August 1818, on Macquarie's recommendation, Evans was given a grant of £100. In the intervals between these expeditions he carried out his surveying work in Tasmania, and in 1821, backed by recommendations from both Sorell (q.v.) and Macquarie, endeavoured to obtain an increase in his salary which was only about £136 a year. He published at London in 1822 A Geographical, Historical and Topographical Description of Van Diemen's Land of which a second edition under the title History and Description of the Present State of Van Diemen's Land appeared in 1824. A French translation was published at Paris in 1823. In November 1824 he applied to be allowed to retire on a pension, his position had recently been removed from any control by the surveyor-general of New South Wales. In 1825 he was accused of receiving bribes from persons having business with his department, and Lieut.-Governor Arthur (q.v.) found much difficulty in ascertaining the facts. In October 1826, in a dispatch to Earl Bathurst, he stated that Evans was proceeding to England by the same vessel conveying the dispatch and that he would "leave his address at your lordship's office". He sailed for England on 14 November 1826. Arthur found he could not justify Evans's conduct but in view of his services hoped he would not "be deprived of the retirement I have had the honour to recommend". The matter dragged on for some time but in the following year Evans was granted a pension of £200 a year. It would appear that he had accepted money, but irregularities had grown up in the office and it is probable that Evans regarded this money as fees rather than bribes. Oxley as surveyor-general of New South Wales made the greater part of his income from fees; Governor Darling (q.v.) in a dispatch dated 5 September 1826 stated that though the surveyor-general's salary was only £1 a day the fees of his office were considerable and raised his income to £1000 a year (H.R. of A. ser. I, vol. XII, p. 542). Darling's dispatch led to the fees system being discontinued, and instructions were given that the surveyor-general's salary was to be fixed at not more than £800 a year. Evans returned to Australia about six years later and his name will be found in the New South Wales Calendar 1833-7 as a bookseller and stationer in Bridge-street, Sydney. He spent his last 10 years at Hobart and died there on 16 October 1852 (Launceston Examiner, 23 October 1852). He was married twice. Sketches by him of early Sydney and Hobart are in the Dixson gallery at Sydney.

Evans takes high rank among our early explorers. He was careful and capable and his discoveries were of great importance.

E. Favenc, The Explorers of Australia; Ida Lee, Early Explorers in Australia; J. E. Tenison Woods, A History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia; Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. IV, V, VII to XI, ser. III, vols. III, IV, V; R. W. Giblin, The Early History of Tasmania, vol. II; Sir William Dixson, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. V, pp. 233-6.

EVANS, MRS MATILDA JANE. See FRANC, MAUD JEAN.

EVERGOOD, MILES (1871-1939), artist,

was born in Melbourne in 1871 and studied for a short period at the national gallery school under Bernard Hall (q.v.) between 1893 and 1895. He exhibited at the Victorian Artists Society, and the Royal Art Society, Sydney, before leaving for the United States in 1898. He worked principally in New York, with frequent visits to Europe, for about 30 years, and established a good reputation as a painter. He returned to Australia about the end of 1931 and worked for a year in Queensland. He then went to Sydney and Melbourne holding exhibitions of his work, and died suddenly at Melbourne on 3 January 1939. His name was originally Blashki but he changed his name while in the United States. He left a widow and one son, Philip Evergood, an artist living in America.

Evergood was a capable artist, painting mostly landscapes in oil with affinities to the post impressionists. He was essentially a colourist. He is represented in the national gallery at Melbourne.

The Argus, Melbourne, 4 and 5 January 1939; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; Art in Australia, April 1933.

EWART, ALFRED JAMES (1872-1937), botanist,

son of Edmund Brown Ewart, B.A. and his wife, Martha Williams, was born at Liverpool on 12 February 1872. Educated at the Liverpool institute and University College, Liverpool, Ewart graduated Ph.D. at Leipzig and D.Sc. at Oxford. He was a demonstrator of botany at Liverpool, and subsequently science master at King Edward's school, Birmingham, and lecturer on botany at Birmingham university, where he was for a time deputy professor. In 1905 he was appointed professor of botany at the university of Melbourne. He had already completed a laborious and useful piece of work, his translation of W. Pfeffer's treatise on The Physiology of Plants, the first volume of which was published in 1900, the second in 1903, and the third in 1906. He had also published First Stage Botany (1900), New Matriculation Botany (1902), of which many impressions were subsequently published under the title Ewart's Elementary Botany; On the Physics and Physiology of Protoplasmic Streaming in Plants (1903), and Rural Calendar (1905).

At Melbourne for the next 15 years Ewart was also government botanist. In 1909 he published a useful work on The Weeds, Poison Plants and Naturalized Aliens of Victoria, and in 1917, in collaboration with Miss Olive B. Davies. The Flora of the Northern Territory. At the university Ewart had no separate building and for many years shared the biology school building with Sir Baldwin Spencer (q.v.). After the war a separate department for botany was built. In 1927 Ewart was asked by the government to prepare a new Flora of Victoria which, with some assistance from other scientists, was completed and published in 1930. Other works not already mentioned include a Handbook of Forest Trees for Victorian Foresters (1925), and many papers in scientific journals, some of which were reprinted as pamphlets. He died suddenly on 12 September 1937. Ewart was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1922. He married (1) in 1898, Florence Maud Donaldson, a violinist and composer of ability, and (2) in 1931 Elizabeth Bilton. There were two sons of the first marriage.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1937, vol. 124B, p. 379; Sir Ernest Scott, A History of the University of Melbourne; The Argus, Melbourne, 13 September 1937; Who's Who, 1936.

EYRE, EDWARD JOHN (1815-1901), explorer, [ also refer to Edward John EYRE page at Project Gutenberg Australia]

came of an old English family: an ancestor Sir Gervas Eyre was killed while fighting for Charles I. Eyre's father, the Rev. Anthony William Eyre, was a clergyman in Yorkshire who married Sarah Mapleton, the daughter of a physician at Bath. Eyre was born on 5 August 1815, and was educated at the grammar school at Louth and at Sedbergh. He did well at school and his masters suggested when he left at 16 that he should go on to a university. His own inclinations were for the army but, his chest showing signs of delicacy, it was decided that he should go to Australia. In 1832 he proceeded to Sydney with a good outfit and £400 in his pocket. He for a time boarded with a settler to obtain colonial experience and then bought a farm. After South Australia had been founded, he brought 1000 sheep and 600 head of cattle from Monaro in New South Wales to Adelaide, and disposed of them at a large profit. This was not his first experience of overland travel and between 1836 and 1840 he conducted expeditions from Liverpool Plains in New South Wales to the county of Murray, from Sydney to Port Phillip, from Port Phillip to Adelaide, and from King George's Sound to Swan River in Western Australia. He had also made explorations towards the interior from Port Lincoln and from Adelaide. On 18 June 1840 Eyre took charge of an expedition for the purpose of opening up communications between South and Western Australia. The country on the route directly to the west of Adelaide he had satisfied himself was of too sterile a nature, and he determined to begin by going north from the head of Spencer's Gulf. His party consisted of E. B. Scott first assistant, four other white men, two aborigines, 13 horses and 40 sheep. His first effort reached Mount Sane, when Eyre became convinced that Lake Torrens formed a horseshoe preventing access to the north, and retraced his steps towards Mount Arden and then to the head of Spencer's Gulf. He next tried to make his way westward along the coast and reached nearly to the head of the Great Bight but was seldom able to find good water. Some of his horses died, and he was obliged to send two of his men back to Adelaide and to remain in camp to rest his horses for some weeks. On 30 December 1840 he left the camp in charge of Scott and one of the aborigines, and proceeded westward with the remainder of the party. On 6 January 1841 his horses became so exhausted that the dray was sent back, and Eyre, accompanied by one European and an aborigine, pushed north-west. The European, however, lost courage and had to be sent back. Eyre, helped by friendly aborigines, penetrated some 50 miles farther, but eventually was obliged to retrace his steps to where Scott had been left. The South Australian government sent a vessel with fresh supplies to Fowler's Bay, and, after a rest of some days, Eyre, Barter, one of the Europeans of the original party, and three aborigines with 11 horses, started on their long journey to King George's Sound. At one stage 135 miles of desert country was passed through without coming across water and the whole party nearly perished. Over and over again they went through similar experiences until, the two white men being temporarily separated, two of the natives shot Baxter and decamped with some of the stores. Eyre persevered on with the third native and when almost exhausted came upon a French whaler anchored off the coast. After remaining on board for a fortnight to recuperate, on 15 June 1841 Eyre, and Wylie the aborigine, continued their Journey, having been supplied with stores by the captain of the ship. They now met with much rain and often had to go through swamps. On 7 July 1841 they reached Albany, and about a week later Eyre sailed for Adelaide where he arrived on 26 July 1841. After his return Eyre took up land in South Australia near the Murray, and was appointed a magistrate and protector of aborigines, at Moorundie. Before Eyre's arrival there had been serious conflicts with the aborigines with loss of life on both sides but during the three years he was there he established the most friendly relations with the aborigines and there was not one case of serious aggression by them. In 1845 Eyre, having obtained leave of absence, went to England and published his Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in two volumes.

Eyre stayed quietly in England for some time recruiting his health. Towards the end of 1846 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of New Zealand, and during the next six years carried out his work with zeal and ability, though he unfortunately came into conflict with the governor, Sir George Grey (q.v.). He returned to England in 1853 and a year later was appointed lieutenant-governor of St Vincent in the West Indies. This was followed by an appointment as lieutenant-governor of Antigua. He returned to England in 1860 and early in 1862 was commissioned to administer the government as chief of Jamaica during the absence of governor Darling on leave. In 1864 he was appointed governor-in-chief. Jamaica, which had once been so prosperous, was passing through a period of depression, and there was much dissatisfaction among the large negro population. Trouble had been brewing for some time and on 11 October 1865 a riot occurred at Morant Bay in the south-east of the island, several white men were killed and wounded, and the insurgents spread over a large tract of country burning and plundering the houses of the planters. Eyre acted promptly, proclaimed martial law, the forces in the island were gathered together, and in a few days the revolt was quelled. Unfortunately martial law was continued for a longer period than was necessary, and over 400 negroes were either shot down or executed. In some cases the officers who sat on court-martials were young and inexperienced, and in one case George William Gordon, a coloured representative in the house of assembly, was tried and hanged on insufficient evidence. Where Eyre's responsibility came in was that Gordon had given himself up at Kingston which was not under martial law, and the governor had handed him over to the army for trial and afterwards concurred in his execution. When the news reached England a tremendous outcry took place. A "Jamaica Committee" was formed with John Stuart Mill as chairman and Eyre was denounced in unmeasured terms. In December 1865 a royal commission was appointed to inquire into the matter and after sitting many days issued its report in April. In five out of the seven clauses Eyre was vindicated, and in the other two clauses, though the responsibility was not thrown on the governor, it was stated that martial law had been continued for too long a period and that the punishments inflicted were excessive. The Jamaica Committee was not satisfied and several attempts were made to carry the matter further. The officers responsible for the court martial were put on trial on the charge of having murdered Gordon but were discharged, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to bring Eyre for trial as an accessory before the fact. Eyre was helped by an "Eyre Defence Committee" in which Carlyle, Ruskin and Kingsley took part. In June 1868 Eyre was charged with a long list of misdemeanours in connexion with the rising, but the jury found him not guilty. He was, however, harassed by a series of civil suits, the last of which was dismissed in 1869. Eyre had been superseded at the end of 1865. In 1872 parliament voted £4133 to defray the costs incurred by him in the various criminal prosecutions, and he was afterwards given a pension as a retired colonial governor. He lived in privacy in the country until his death on 30 November 1901. He married while in New Zealand, Adelaide, daughter of Captain Ormond, R.N. She survived him with four sons and one daughter.

Eyre was a man of fine character and great determination. He was an excellent explorer, brave, humane and just, who always treated the aborigines well, and was thoroughly in sympathy with them (see vol. 2 Journals of Expeditions of Discovery). His journey from Adelaide to Albany was one of the most remarkable ever carried through by an explorer. Time and again the party seemed likely to die of thirst and the position seemed hopeless, yet he somehow succeeded in keeping going until water was found. The Jamaica controversy rent England in two and there is a large bibliography relating to it. Even so late as 1933 Lord Olivier, at one time governor of Jamaica, published his The Myth of Governor Eyre in which he states that "Eyre was, in fact . . . a morose introvert, self-centred, headstrong, unteachable". This is, however, quite opposed to Eyre's record in Australia. Lord Olivier can find few good words to say for him, but his book suggests that he was more intent on making a case against Eyre than in giving a balanced and impartial account of what happened. It may be true that Eyre was unable to completely free himself from the excitement and hysteria of the time, and came to the conclusion that it was necessary that the negroes should be taught a stern lesson, that Gordon was the hidden leader of the rebellion, and that it would be all for the good of the state that he should be executed. Possibly he was mistaken, but he would have been denounced as a criminal weakling if he had not taken a firm grasp of the situation.

Hamilton Hume, The Life of Edward John Eyre; The Times, 3 and 5 December 1901; Men and Women of the Time, 1899; E. J. Eyre, Journals of Expeditions of Discovery; Mrs N. G. Sturt, Life of Charles Sturt; The Cornhill Magazine, February 1902; M. Uren and R. Stephens, Waterless Horizons; Lord Olivier, The Myth of Governor Eyre; William L. Mathieson, The Sugar Colonies and Governor Eyre; The Dictionary of National Biography gives a bibliography of the Jamaica Controversy.

^Top of page [and links to other parts]

• Glass Sydney - Valiant Glass - Glass & Mirrors Specialists in Sydney