Charles Alexander Harris

“ Macquarie had all the faults of military governors, but possessed their good points in a marked degree. His want of judgment and impatience of opposition were accentuated by his personal vanity and ambition. But 'there was a vigour about Governor Macquarie's administration of which it was long afterwards refreshing to contemplate the effects, and which under the guidance of a better regulated judgment would undoubtedly have led to the happiest results.' He has established some sort of claim to the title of 'father of the colony which some admirers sought to bestow on him. ”

“ His father, having lost money in Sydney, came to Victoria in 1849 and began life again, first as a contractor in a small way of business, then as a market gardener, near McKinnon in the Brighton suburb of Melbourne; here he soon managed to build and run an inn called the Gardeners' Arms. From the age of eleven Bent worked with his father, and for education depended on his own efforts. Characterised from youth by cheery 'push' and enterprise, he started a small market garden in 1859, taking his own produce weekly to market in a rough cart. ”

“ All questions about the Maoris were absolutely in his hands, and his reliance on personal exertions rather than on the law was the source of his influence. 'He was rather opinionative in what he considered his specialty, and rather lax in matters of general administration, for which, as a member of the ministry, he was constitutionally responsible, but no man did so much for New Zealand in facilitating the peaceful union of both races' (Gisborne) . ”

“ The Transvaal Boers had recently had considerable diplomatic successes in their dealings with the British government; and they were inclined to be very high-handed. At the same time there was a deep feeling of resentment among the British who had made their home in Johannesburg, and were there subjected to vexatious and oppressive restrictions.
Robinson had no wish to return to South Africa, but the summons was a great compliment, and the call of duty was one which he felt bound to obey. At considerable personal sacrifice he took up the appointment on 30 May 1895. ”

“ ROBINSON, Sir JOHN (1839–1903) , first prime minister of Natal, son of George Eyre Robinson, was born at Hull, Yorkshire, in 1839, and came out to Natal with his parents in 1850. Coming to a colony which was only seven years old, where there were as yet no secondary schools, he had little chance of education, apart from the stimulus of 'cultured parents.' Entering the office of the 'Natal Mercury,' which his father started, he cherished leanings towards the life of a missionary, and then towards the law ”

“ Gorrie returned to England with the expressed intention of appealing to the judicial committee of the privy council, but died at Exeter not long after his arrival on 4 Aug. 1892. Gorrie was vigorous and masterful; his manner, particularly in court, was rough and uncouth, and his speech caustic and unceremonious. At the height of his career in Trinidad he was the idol of the negroes, while the rest of Trinidad society could hardly speak sufficiently evil of him. ”

“ PELHAM, HERBERT (1600–1673) , colonist, born probably in Sussex, but possibly in Lincolnshire, in 1600, was the eldest son of Herbert Pelham and Penelope, a younger daughter of Thomas West, second lord De la Warr. He must be carefully distinguished from a very distant relative, Herbert, son of Sir William Pelham, fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who was born in 1602. The colonist, who was at no university, was brought up as a country gentleman. ”

“ Alfred Deakin, afterwards prime minister of the Australian commonwealth, 'he had the pronounced gift of generalship both in the house and in the country; was a resolute and far-seeing premier and a fighting chieftain, conspicuously able, earnest, and consistent' (John's Notable Australians; cf. Victorian Parliamentary Debates, lxxxvii. 763) . ”

“ Gisborne describes Robinson's regime in this colony as that of a man prudent in counsel and energetic in action, who was still busy gathering materials for his own judgment when his administration was cut short by his transfer, in August 1880, to be governor of the Cape Colony and high commissioner of South Africa. The dual office demands peculiar ability; for the holder has his ministers to consider in the colony itself, while his position of high commissioner throws upon him the personal responsibility for action outside the Cape Colony. ”

“ MACGREGOR, JOHN, commonly known as Rob Roy (1825–1892) , philanthropist and traveller, horn on 24 Jan. 1825, was son of General Sir Duncan MacGregor, K.C.B. His mother was the youngest daughter of Sir William Dick, bart., of Prestonfield, near Edinburgh. Adventures came to him early: as a baby he was outward bound on the Kent, East Indiaman, which took fire in the Bay of Biscay. An account of the disaster was published by his father in 1825, and repubished by him in 1880. As a boy he was apt at mechanics, read hard, was a good climber, boxer, and horseman, and passionately fond of boating. ”

“ Arranging for the conduct of the 'Mercury' during his absence, in 1861 he journeyed to England by the east coast of Africa, Mauritius, and the Red Sea, whence he passed through Egypt, Palestine, Syria, certain of the Levant and Mediterranean ports to Athens, Rome, and Paris. ”

“ He arrived in Cape Town on 22 Jan. 1881. In February he was called upon to negotiate terms of peace in circumstances which were a source of deep indignation throughout the greater part of the British Empire. When peace was concluded he had to face an extremely difficult situation. British and Boers were entirely out of sympathy. The antagonism was not only between the British colonies and the free republics, but between British and Dutch throughout South Africa wherever they came into contact. The native races also were restless and discontented. ”

“ Nelson was a strong man, and the greatest authority on constitutional questions that the colony had had up to that time, although he was opposed to the federation of the Australian states (Daily Record, Rockhampton, 1 Jan. 1906) . He founded the Royal Agricultural Society of Toowoomba and the Austral Association. He was president of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. ”

“ Two of the chief rivers of New South Wales are the Lachlan and Macquarie. Port Macquarie was a rural convict settlement established shortly before he left the colony. There are Macquarie County, Marshes, and Plains, and the Lachlan district. Macquarie Place and Macquarie Street are in Sydney. Tasmania has Macquarie Harbour, and the town thereon, Macquarie Plains, and Macquarie River. Macquarie Island, south of Tasmania, was discovered in 1811. ”

“ Binns's political life was marked by his courage and persistence. He was a pungent speaker, who rarely wasted words — a good critic of finance. He was a sound business man, and his name will always be connected with the building up of the sugar industry in Natal; he was a director of the Natal Bank and of the Durban Telephone and Tramways Companies. ”

“ Ambitious to follow the career of a colonial administrator, he in 1882 accepted an offer of the lieutenant-governorship of Natal. But the politicians of that colony declined to approve the choice of one so little known, and the nomination was withdrawn. ”

“ In 1854 McCulloch entered the then single chamber of Victoria as a nominee-member, and early in 1857 was elected for Wimmera to the first elective legislative assembly, where he took his seat at first on the cross benches. In April 1857 Sir John O'Shanassy's ministry fell, and McCulloch was invited to form a government—in which he did not take the position of premier, but the portfolio of trade and customs. ”

“ HART, JOHN (1809–1873) , pioneer colonist and premier of South Australia, was born in Great Britain on 25 Feb. 1809, and apparently went to sea as a boy; he first sighted South Australia when in 1834 and 1835 he was employed on a sealer along the south coast of the colony. His seamanship attracted the notice of a Tasmanian merchant, who early in 1836 sent him to London to buy a vessel for the colonial trade. On 1 Sept. 1836 he left England for Launceston, Tasmania, as captain of the Isabella, and on arriving shipped for South Australia the first livestock landed in the new colony ”

“ Save that in 1897 and 1898 he represented his colony at federal conventions at Sydney and Adelaide, Berry thenceforth lived in retirement until his death at Balaclava on 25 Jan. 1904; a public funeral at Boroondara cemetery was accorded him.
A self-made man, without education, a democratic leader with a fervent belief in democratic principles, and a fluent speaker, he was no violent demagogue. ”

“ The Pacific railway scandal gave Mackenzie his opportunity. The government met parliament in 1873 with apparently undiminished strength. On 27 Oct. Mackenzie moved an amendment to the speech from the throne to the effect that the conduct of Sir John Macdonald's ministry towards the Pacific railway charter had deprived it of the confidence of the country [see Macdonald, Sir John] . The debate was continued for seven days, and before a vote was taken the ministry resigned. Mackenzie formed a new ministry (7 Nov.) , becoming himself minister of public works. ”

“ In November 1863 Brand was elected by the burghers of the Orange Free State, then at a very low ebb, to be their president, and he migrated to the new sphere thus opened to him, taking the oaths, on 2 Feb. 1864, and thus nominally relinquishing British citizenship. The burghers' choice was amply justified. From the first Brand handled their finances with prudence, and organised the service of the state on an economical and efficient basis. ”