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TASMAN, ABEL JANSZ (1603-1659), discoverer of Tasmania and New Zealand, [ also refer to Abel Janszoon TASMAN page at Project Gutenberg Australia]

was born in Groningen, Holland, in 1603. We first hear of him at the end of 1631 when he, a widower living at Amsterdam, married Jannetjie Tjaers. He was shortly afterwards in the East Indies Company service, and by 1634 was mate of a ship trading from Batavia to the Moluccas. In July of that year he was appointed master of a small ship, the Mocha. He visited Holland in 1637, and returned to Batavia in October 1638 bringing his wife with him. In 1639 he was sent as second in command of an exploring expedition in the north Pacific. There were stories of a rich island in latitude 37? degrees north, but as the island did not exist the expedition was naturally unsuccessful. After many hardships Formosa was reached in November, 40 out of the crew of 90 having died. Other voyages followed; to Japan in 1640 and in 1641, and to Palembang in the south of Sumatra in 1642, where he succeeded in making a friendly trading treaty with the sultan. In August 1642 Tasman was sent in command of an expedition for the discovery of the "Unknown Southland" which was believed to be in the south Pacific. Strange as it may seem he went first to Mauritius, but there was some knowledge of prevailing winds, and from there a course was set to the south of Australia, the western shore of which was known to the Dutch. On 24 November 1642 he sighted the west coast of Tasmania probably near Macquarie Harbour. The land was named Antony Van Diemen's Land after the governor-general of the Dutch Indies. Proceeding south Tasman skirted the southern end of Tasmania and turned north-east until he was off Cape Frederick Henry on Forestier's Peninsula. An attempt at landing was made but the sea was too rough. The carpenter, however, swam through the surf and planting a flag took formal possession of the land on 3 December 1642. Tasman had intended to proceed in a northerly direction but as the wind was unfavourable he steered east, and on 13 December sighted land on the north-west coast of South Island, New Zealand. Proceeding north and then east one of his boats was attacked by Maoris in war canoes, and four of his men were killed. Tasman then went north along the west coast of North Island, eventually turned north-west to New Guinea, and arrived at Batavia on 15 June 1643. In 1644 he did some exploring round the Gulf of Carpentaria but did not discover Torres Strait, and on 2 November he was appointed a member of the council of justice at Batavia. He went to Sumatra in 1646, and in August 1647 to Siam with letters from the company to the king. In May 1648 he was in charge of an expedition sent to Manilla to try to intercept and loot the Spanish silver ships coming from America, but he had no success and returned to Batavia in January 1649. In November 1649 he was charged and found guilty of having in the previous year hanged one of his men without trial, was suspended from his office of commander, fined, and made to pay compensation to the relatives of the sailor. On 5 January 1651 he was formally reinstated in his rank and spent his remaining years at Batavia. He was in good circumstances, being one of the larger landowners in the town. He died at Batavia in October 1659 and was survived by his second wife and a daughter by his first wife. His discoveries were most important but led to nothing for more than 100 years.

James B. Walker, Abel Janszoon Tasman: His Life and Voyages; John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the best and most interesting Voyages and Travels, vol. II, p. 439, a translation with comments and omissions of Tasman's journal of his 1642-3 voyage of which there are several Dutch editions; A. J. Van Der Aa, Biographisch Woordenbock der Nederlanden, vol. 24. See also Walker's The Discovery of Van Diemen's Land in 1642: with Notes on the Localities mentioned in Tasman's Journal of the Voyage, and C. T. Burfitt, "The Discovery of Tasmania", Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. III, p. 113.

TATE, FRANK (1863-1939), educationist,

son of Henry Tate, a country storekeeper, was born at Castlemaine, Victoria, on 18 June 1863. He was educated at the Castlemaine state school, the model school, Melbourne, and the university of Melbourne, where he graduated B.A. in 1888 and M.A. in 1894. He entered the teachers' training college in 1883 and gained the trained teacher's certificate with first and second honours. His first charge was a small school near East Kew on the outskirts of Melbourne. He quickly made an impression as an able and stimulating young teacher and many students were sent to his school for teaching experience. In 1889 he was appointed a junior lecturer in the training college and became much interested in teaching methods. At the end of 1893, following the great financial crisis, the college was closed, but Tate was given charge of classes in Melbourne for the training of pupil teachers. In 1895 he was appointed an inspector for the Charlton district, and spent four years inspecting its 136 schools and incidentally learning a great deal about the problems of small rural schools and their teachers. He became a well-known speaker at teachers' congresses and enhanced his reputation as an educationist when giving evidence before the technical education commission. He was appointed principal of the teachers' training college when it was re-opened in September 1899, and vigorously set to work to make up as far as possible the ground lost while the college was closed. He kept the subject of English in his own hands, considering it to be the basic subject of education, and steadily brought before his students the opportunities for service to the community possessed by enlightened teachers. In March 1902 when it was announced that he had been appointed as the first director of education in Victoria he was only 38 years old. Many men of much longer service had been passed over, but it appears to have been generally recognized that he was the fit man for the position.

When Tate took up his charge education in Victoria had long been starved and neglected. The state had been going through a period of lean years, but the new director felt that money spent on education would more than repay itself. He felt too that well-educated and capable men and women could not be attracted to an ill-paid profession with little prospect of promotion. He set out to do away with pupil-teachers, to improve the training of teachers, to obtain better pay for them, to encourage school committees, and to suggest to each community that the local state school was not merely a state school--it was their school. New methods of instruction were brought in, the chief object being the development of a child's mind instead of merely cramming it with facts. Tate felt too that secondary and technical education was being neglected and in June 1904 presented a report on "Some Aspects of Education in New Zealand" in which he showed how far behind Victoria was lagging in this work.

In 1905 a bill was introduced in parliament for the registration of teachers and schools not administered by the education department. This was passed and had much effect in raising the qualifications and status of secondary school teachers. When it was determined that Tate should attend the conference on education held in London in May 1907 he took the opportunity of making a special study of these problems in Europe and the United States of America. Soon after his return he published in 1908 a Preliminary Report upon Observations made during an Official Visit to Europe and America. In this report he showed that a "ladder of education" was required. Primary schools formed a necessary basis, but on these must be imposed higher elementary schools, secondary schools and agricultural high schools, all leading on to the university or agricultural college. Technical colleges for young people engaged in industry must also be much more encouraged. In a striking diagram he showed that of the money spent by the state of Victoria on education 93.1 per cent was for primary education and less than one per cent for secondary education. In another diagram he demonstrated that New Zealand, whose population was a fifth less than that of Victoria, was spending three times as much on technical education and more than 10 times as much on secondary education. Tate never wavered in his fight for a better state of things and gradually imposed his views on parliament. In the education act of 1910 which Tate drafted, provision was made for the constitution of a council of public education. It consisted of representatives of the university, the education department, technical schools, public and private schools, and industrial interests. Its duties were to report to the minister upon public education in other countries, and matters in connexion with public education referred to it by the minister. It also took over the duties of the teachers and schools registration board. The discussions of this council have proved of great value in the consideration of problems of public education in Victoria. Tate was chairman of this committee, and he also kept in touch with the university as a member of its council.

When Tate retired from the education department in 1928 no fewer than 128 higher elementary schools and 36 high schools had been established in Victoria, and there had been an increase of 50 per cent in the number of technical schools. Tate had also paid two visits to London and had sat on commissions dealing with education in New Zealand, Fiji, and Southern Rhodesia. After his retirement he became chairman of the Australian council for educational research and never lost his interest in educational problems. He died at Melbourne on 28 June 1939. He married in 1888 Ada Hodgkiss, who died in 1932, and was survived by two sons and a daughter. The Imperial Service Order was conferred on him in 1903 and he was created C.M.G. in 1919. In addition to the reports mentioned Tate edited in 1916 As You Like It in the Australasian Shakespeare, and in 1920 published as a pamphlet, Continued Education, Our Opportunity and our Obligation. He was a good popular lecturer on Shakespearian and other subjects. An excellent portrait painted about the time of his retirement by W. B. McInnes (q.v.) is at the national gallery, Melbourne.

Tate was a tall man of good presence, rugged of feature, somewhat informal in manner. He liked a good story and could tell one. He had great power in getting work from his subordinates and had loyal lieutenants including M. P. Hansen and J. McCrae who in succession followed him in the office of director. He had great force of character, and once having made up his mind kept his eyes steadily on the object and did not cease working for it until it was achieved. He did much in raising the status of the teachers in the education department and even more in creating interest in the individual schools, but his great work was the immense increase in secondary education which was brought about during his period as director.

The Argus, Melbourne, 29 June 1939; J. R. L., Education Gazette and Teachers' Aid, 17 July 1939; E. Sweetman, Long, and Smyth, A History of State Education in Victoria; private information; personal knowledge.

TATE, HENRY (1873-1926), musician and poet,

son of Henry Tate, accountant, was born at Prahran, Melbourne, on 27 October 1873. He was educated at a local state school and as a choir boy at a St Kilda Anglican church, and developed his musical knowledge under Marshall Hall (q.v.). He worked for some time as a clerk and then became a teacher of music, but he was not overburdened with pupils as he was too conscientious to encourage a child that had no talent, and he was no believer in coaching children for music examinations. He contributed some verse to the Bulletin and other journals, and conducted a chess column in a Melbourne weekly paper. In 1910 he brought out a little volume, The Rune of the Bunyip and other Verse, and in 1917 a pamphlet, Australian Musical Resources, Some Suggestions. Slight as this pamphlet was it showed the possibilities of the development of an Australian school of musical composers who could be as typical of their soil as those of any other country. He extended some of his suggestions in a volume published at Melbourne in 1924, Australian Musical Possibilities. In this year he became musical critic for the Age newspaper, and carried out his work with ability and great sincerity. One of his compositions, Bush Miniatures, was played in Melbourne in 1925 and a more ambitious work, Dawn, an Australian rhapsody for full orchestra with a melodic and rhythmic foundation based on Australian bird calls, was later performed by the university symphony orchestra under Bernard Heinze. This was favourably received by both critics and public, but the value of his work had scarcely begun to be appreciated when Tate died after a short illness on 6 June 1926. He married Violet Eleanor Mercer who survived him. He had no children. His poems were collected and published in 1928 with a portrait and an introduction by Elsie Cole.

Tate was a modest, thoroughly sincere and lovable man with great gifts. He was an excellent chess player who represented Victoria in interstate matches, and was a good bowler and captained a pennant rink. These were his relaxations in a busy life in which for a time he had a struggle to make a living. As a poet, apart from the generous praise of Bernard O'Dowd, the tendency has been to underrate him. He was not one of the leading Australian poets, but his verse is often musical, he had something to say, he is never trivial and is seldom commonplace. As a composer he holds an important place in the history of Australian music. He was not content to merely follow in the tracks of either the ancients or the moderns, but working with a "deflected scale" based on the ordinary major scale with figure and melody developed from Australian bird calls, he showed how a purely Australian school of composers of music could be developed. Little of his music was published. A list of his compositions to the end of 1923 is given as an appendix to his Australian Musical Possibilities, and in another appendix two short compositions are printed.

The Age, Melbourne, 7 June 1926; The Argus, Melbourne, 8 June 1926; The Herald, Melbourne, 22 July 1927; Manuscripts, No. 3; Introduction to his Poems; personal knowledge.

TATE, RALPH (1840-1901), geologist and botanist,

was the son of Thomas Tate (1807-1888), mathematician and author of many educational books. He was born at Alnwick, Northumberland, England, in March 1840, and was educated at the Cheltenham training college. His uncle, George Tate, well known as a naturalist, was his first master in geology, which he began to study at 12 years of age. In 1857 he obtained an exhibition at the royal school of mines, London, of ?80 a year for two years. He began teaching at the polytechnic institution, and then became the senior science master at the trade and mining school, Bristol. He was for two years at Belfast, in the north of Ireland, where he founded the Belfast naturalists' field club, drew up a flora of Belfast, and a descriptive list of Irish liasic fossils. In 1864 he became assistant-curator of the Geological Society, London, and began to write papers on palaeontology for the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. He also wrote three botanical papers in 1866. In this year he published his volume, A Plain and Easy Account of the Land and Freshwater Mollusks of Great Britain. In 1867 he went on an exploring expedition to Nicaragua and later went to Venezuela. On his return he held a teaching position at the mining school at Bristol, and published in 1871 his Rudimentary Treatise on Geology. He was then an instructor at the mining, schools at Darlington, and Redcar. In 1872 appeared A Class-book of Geology, and in conjunction with J. F. Blake he prepared a work on The Yorkshire Lias, which was published in 1876. In 1875 Tate was appointed Elder professor of natural science at the university of Adelaide.

In Australia Tate energetically worked at his task of teaching botany, zoology and geology. He found at Adelaide a Philosophical Society which as vice-president and then as president he encouraged in every way. Well-established under the new title of the Royal Society of South Australia, he encouraged the members to send in original papers, and himself contributed nearly 100 to its Transactions and Proceedings. In 1882 he went to the Northern Territory and made a valuable report on its geological and mineralogical characteristics. In 1883 he became a fellow of the Linnean Society, and in 1888 was president of the biological section at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. Five years later he was president of the meeting of this association held at Adelaide. He had published his valuable Handbook of the Flora of Extratropical South Australia in 1890. In 1894 he was a member of the Horn expedition to Central Australia and wrote the palaeontology report, in collaboration with J. A. Watt, that in general geology, and with J. H. Maiden (q.v.), the botany report. He paid a visit to England at the end of 1896 partly for the good of his health, but early in 1901 it began to fail again and he died on 20 September of that year. He was married twice. His second wife survived him with one son and two daughters of the first marriage, and two sons and a daughter of the second. A list of about 150 of his scientific papers will be found on page 89 of the Geological Magazine for 1902.

Tate had a remarkably wide knowledge of science, a fine critical sense, and a passion for accuracy. He was the most distinguished botanist of his day in South Australia, a good zoologist, and an excellent palaeontologist and geologist, as his series of papers on the tertiary and recent marine fauna of South Australia and Victoria show.

J. F. Blake, The Geological Magazine, 1902; J. H. Maiden, A Century of Botanical Endeavour in South Australia; The Register, Adelaide, 21 September 1901; E. W. Skeats, Some Founders of Australian Geology.

TAYLOR, GEORGE AUGUSTINE (1872-1928), artist, journalist, and inventor,

was born at Sydney in 1872. He first became known as an artist, and was a member of the Sydney Bohemian set in the 1890s, whose doings he was afterwards to record in his Those Were the Days, a volume of reminiscences published in 1918. He contributed drawings to the Bulletin, Worker, Sunday Times, Referee, and London Punch, but later became interested in aviation and radio, and did some remarkable work in connexion with them. He experimented with a motorless aeroplane, in November 1909 constructed one of full size, and rose into the air and manoeuvred it (Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 1909, p. 3). Much gliding had of course been done in America and Europe many years before this, but the principle and design of Taylor's machine appear to have anticipated the types being used in Europe more than 10 years later. In wireless Taylor did some excellent pioneer work. He had been experimenting for a long time, and in 1909 had had sufficient success to be invited to join the Australian military forces as an intelligence officer in connexion with aeronautics and wireless. In 1910 and 1911 he succeeded in communicating from one part of a railway train to another, and in exchanging messages between trains running at full speed. He had founded the aerial league in 1909 and the wireless institute in 1911. It was largely on account of his representations that the first government wireless station was erected in Australia. He did some interesting experimental work in connexion with locating sound by wireless, which proved useful in the 1914-18 war when methods of locating submarines had to be devised. Taylor visited Europe in 1922 and studied broadcasting developments. On his return at the end of that year he formed an association for developing wireless in Australia and was elected its president. At a conference of wireless experts called together by the Commonwealth government in May 1923 Taylor was elected chairman, and did valuable work in framing broadcasting regulations for Australia. He was also a pioneer in the transmission of sketches by wireless, both in black and white and in colour.

Taylor had for many years before this conducted a successful monthly trade journal called Building, of which he was proprietor and editor. Gradually other magazines were added, including the Australasian Engineer, the Soldier, the Commonwealth Home, and the Radio Journal of Australasia. He also published two volumes of popular verse, Songs for Soldiers (1913), and Just Jingles (1922), and some small volumes of sketches and stories. He was much interested in town-planning, and published in 1914 Town Planning for Australia and in 1918 Town Planning with Common-sense. He died as the result of an accident on 20 January 1928 leaving a widow. In 1929 a gift of ?1100 was made to the university of Sydney by the G. A. Taylor memorial committee to found a lectureship in aviation or aeronautical engineering in his memory.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 January 1928; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; F. B. Cooke, appendix to Taylor's lecture on Aerial Sciences and their Possibilities in the Pacific, given at the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, Australia 1923; The Brisbane Courier, 31 January 1911.

TEBBITT, HENRI (1852-1926), artist,

was born at Paris of English parents in 1852. He was self-taught as an artist and after travelling in various countries settled in England. An oil-painting by him, "Wet Weather", was shown at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1884. Coming to Australia in 1889 he did a large amount of work particularly in water-colour. His pictures for a time were very popular with the public, and examples were acquired for the Brisbane, Hobart, Launceston, Bendigo and Geelong galleries. He died in 1926. Although his standing as an artist was not high, Tebbitt was a man of some character with a philosophic mind. Speaking of his own work in his manuscript autobiography at the Mitchell library, Sydney, he said: "I have simply endeavoured, perhaps with a vision obscured, to reproduce as faithfully as I could, nature as I see it, and if my efforts are indifferent, no one regrets it more than I do." (Moore, vol. 1, p. 97.)

W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; The Studio, November, 1910; A. Graves, The Royal Academy Exhibitors.

TEBBUTT, JOHN (1834-1916), astronomer,

was born at Windsor, New South Wales, on 25 May 1834, the only son of John Tebbutt, then a prosperous store keeper. His grandfather, John Tebbutt, was one of the early free settlers in Australia; he arrived at Sydney about the end of 1801. Tebbutt was educated first at the Church of England parish school, then at a private school kept by the Rev. Mathew Adam of the local Presbyterian church, and finally at a small but excellent school under the Rev. Henry Tarlton Stiles, where he had a sound training in Latin, Greek, French, and mathematics. His first teacher, Mr Edward Quaife, was interested in astronomy, and in later years encouraged his former pupil in his study of this science. Tebbutt's father had retired from store keeping about the year 1843, purchased a tract of land at the eastern end of the town of Windsor known as the peninsula, and built a residence there. This subsequently became the site of the observatory built by his son, who at 19 years of age had begun his observations of the heavens with an ordinary marine telescope and a sextant. About nine years later, on 13 May 1861, Tebbutt discovered the 1861 comet, one of the most brilliant comets known. There was no means then of telegraphing the intelligence to England where it became visible on 29 June. Tebbutt was acknowledged as the first discoverer of this comet, and the first computer of its approximate orbit. In November 1861 he purchased an excellent refracting telescope of 3?-inch aperture and 48-inch focal length, and in 1862 on the resignation of the Rev. W. Scott he was offered the position of government astronomer for New South Wales but refused it. In 1864 he built, with his own hands, a small observatory close to ins father's residence, and installed his instruments consisting of his 3?-inch telescope, a two-inch transit instrument, and an eight day half-seconds box-chronometer. Shortly before this period Tebbutt had begun to record meteorological observations, and in 1868 published these for the years 1863 to 1866 under the title Meteorological Observations made at the Private Observatory of John Tebbutt, Jnr. He continued the publication of these records at intervals for more than 30 years. He had also begun a long series of papers which were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, in the Astronomical Register, London, and in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. He contributed to other scientific journals, and made an immense number of contributions to the Australian press. In 1872 a 4?-inch equatorial refracting scope was purchased for the observatory, in 1881 Tebbutt discovered another great comet, and in 1886 a new telescope of 8-inch aperture and 115-inch focal length was purchased, which enabled him to considerably extend his operations. He published in 1887 History and Description of Mr Tebbutt's Observatory, and followed this with a yearly Report for about 15 years. A branch of the British Astronomical Society was established at Sydney in 1895 and Tebbutt was elected its first president. In 1904 in his seventieth year he discontinued systematic work, though he retained his interest in astronomy and continued to do some observing, and in the following year the Royal Astronomical Society of London recognized his work by awarding him the Jackson-Gwilt gift and medal of the society. In 1908 he published his Astronomical Memoirs, giving an account of his 54 years' work, and he was much gratified in 1914, during the visit of the British association, by a visit to his observatory of a small party of astronomers. He died at Windsor on 29 November 1916.

Tebbutt did rearkable work as anastronomer over a long period, and his success, considering the limited equipment in his early days was remarkable. The value of his work was acknowledged throughout the world, and the 1861 comet is known by his name. Some idea of his industry will be gained from his Meteorological Observations and the list of 370 of his publications in the appendix to his Astronomical Memoirs. It would be difficult to find a parallel in value and amount of single-handed work in astronomical science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1873, and his observatory was recognized in Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Brazil and Mexico. A large collection of his manuscripts and pamphlets is at the Mitchell library, Sydney.

J. Tebbutt, Astronomical Memoirs; Journal and Proceedings, Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. LI, p. 6; The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 November 1916; The Observatory, vol. XL, p. 141; J. Steele, Early Days of Windsor; J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates.

TEMPLETON, JOHN MONTGOMERY (1840-1908), author of non-forfeiture clause in life assurance policies,

was born at Kilmaurs, Ayreshire, Scotland, on 20 May 1840. He was the eldest son of Hugh Templeton, a school teacher, who brought his family to Victoria at the end of 1852. The boy entered the education department as a teacher, but in 1868 became an accountant in a fire insurance office. In 1869 he formed the National Mutual Life Association, paying the first premium himself on his own life, and personally securing the first 100 members. He was made the first secretary, and having been elected a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1872, as actuary to the association, made its first valuation. In 1884 he left life assurance to become one of the three commissioners under the public service act of 1883, appointed to establish the principle that promotion should depend on merit and seniority. He retired from this position in 1888, and as a public accountant was in 1890 appointed liquidator of the Premier Permanent Building Society. He also joined the board of directors of the National Mutual Life Association, and in 1896 became chairman and managing director. He held this position for the remainder of his life.

Apart from his business life Templeton had important positions in connexion with the volunteers, the militia, and the rifle clubs. He joined the volunteers as a private when he was 19 and rose to the rank of major. He was a first-rate rifle shot and represented Victoria in the first inter-colonial rifle match. The volunteer force was disbanded at the end of 1883 and the militia was formed. Templeton was made a lieutenant-colonel and a member of the Victorian council of defence, holding this position until December 1897. He was promoted colonel in 1895, and was captain of the Victorian rifle team which went to Bisley in 1897 and won the Kolapore Cup. As senior officer from all the colonies he rode on the right of the leading section of the colonial procession at the diamond jubilee. He was shortly afterwards created C.M.G. On his return to Australia he went on the reserve of officers, but when the rifle club movement began in 1900 he was appointed to take command of it. Within a year the rifle clubs had a membership of over 20,000. Templeton gave a lecture in the town hall, Melbourne, to commemorate this movement on 29 July 1900. It was published with additions in March 1901 under the title The Consolidation of the British Empire, the Growth of Citizen Soldiership, and the Establishment of the Australian Commonwealth. He died at Melbourne on 10 June 1908. He was married twice and was survived by his widow. He had no children.

Templeton twice attempted to enter parliament. He was narrowly defeated for a seat in the Victorian legislative assembly in 1893, and he was one of the unsuccessful candidates for the senate at the federal election in 1903. His work in connexion with citizen defence was important, but his introduction of the non-forfeiture principle into life assurance policies was much more so. He was not responsible for the original idea, something like it, but not going so far, was made law in the state of Massachusetts, United States of America, in 1861. Templeton, however, in 1869 introduced a clause in the policies of the newly formed National Mutual Life Association which provided that overdue premiums would automatically be advanced against the surrender value until the surrender value was exhausted. The principle was adopted by other companies, and has proved of the greatest benefit to an immense number of people.

The Argus, Melbourne, 11 June 1908; The Cyclopedia of Victoria, 1903; A Guide to Melbourne (issued by the National Mutual Life Association about 1879); First actuarial report of the National Mutual Life Association, 16 February 1875.

TENCH, WATKIN (c. 1758-1833), lieutenant-general, author, [ also refer to Watkin TENCH page at Project Gutenberg Australia]

was born, probably in Great Britain, between May 1758 and May 1759; he was 74 at the time of his death in May 1833. He was well educated, and entering the British forces was commissioned a lieutenant in 1778. On 13 May 1787 he left England as a captain-lieutenant of marines, so described in an official document, but he was generally called captain, and arrived at Botany Bay on 20 January 1788. He remained in Australia until 18 December 1791 and kept a diary throughout his stay. In 1789 he published at London A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay, a most interesting account of the voyage and the early days at the settlement. This went into three editions and was also translated into French, German, Dutch, and Swedish. After his return to Europe Tench wrote A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, which was published in 1793. This carried his account up to the end of 1791 and is a well-balanced and interesting document. Towards the end of 1794 Tench became a prisoner of war, his ship, the Alexander, having been captured by the French. He published in 1796 an account of his experiences, Letters written in France to a Friend in London. He had been promoted major in 1794, became a colonel in the army in 1808, major-general in 1811 and lieutenant-general in 1821. The last years of his life were spent at Plymouth and Devonport, where he died on 7 May 1899. He married Anna Maria Little, who survived him.

A fellow officer, Lieutenant Daniel Southwell, described Tench as "polite and sensible". He was a good officer and appears to have had a charming personality, though like nearly everyone else, he fell foul of Major Ross. He did some useful exploring, and wielding a lighter pen than most writers of the time, his two books on the beginnings of Australia are both very readable and valuable

The Gentleman's Magazine, 1833, vol. I, p. 477; G. C. Boase and W. P. Courtney, Bibliotheca Corunbiensis, vol. II, p. 710; Historical Records of Australia, ser. 1, vol. 1, G. Arnold Wood, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. X, pp. 15-22; G. Mackaness, Admiral Arthur Phillip. Interesting references to Tench will also he found in Eleanor Dark's historical novel, The Timeless Land.

TENNYSON, HALLAM, 2nd Baron Tennyson (1852-1928), second governor-general of Australia,

son of the poet Tennyson and his wife, Emily Sellwood, was born at Twickenham, London, on 11 August 1852. He was educated at Marlborough, Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple, but did not take up any profession. He acted as private secretary to his father, and after his death in October 1892, wrote his biography, published in two volumes in 1897. Early in 1899 Tennyson was appointed governor of South Australia, and though he had had no experience of official work, his frank manner and ability made a very good impression. When Lord Hopetoun (q.v.) unexpectedly resigned as governor-general of Australia in July 1902, Tennyson was asked to become acting governor-general, and from January 1903 was governor-general. He, however, resigned at the end of that year, and returned to England. He edited a volume of reminiscences of his father, Tennyson and his Friends, published in 1911, and also edited collections of his father's poems. His later years were clouded by the death in action of his youngest son in January 1916, his wife's death at the end of that year, and his second son's death in action in March 1918. He died at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, on 2 December 1928. He married (1) in 1884, Audrey Georgina Florence, daughter of Charles John Boyle, and (2) in 1918, Mary Emily, daughter of C. R. Prinsep and widow of A. K. Hichens, who survived him. His eldest son, Lionel Hallam, well-known as a cricketer and captain of England against Australia, became the third baron.

Tennyson's devotion to his father gave him little opportunity of coming into public notice. During his two short terms as a governor in Australia he was both capable and popular. His biography of his father was a conscientious piece of work, but though complete it is somewhat colourless. He was president of the Royal Literary Fund and of the Folk Lore Society, a member of the privy council, and from 1913 deputy governor of the Isle of Wight.

The Times, 3 December 1928; Burke's Peerage etc., 1929; Harold Tennyson, R. N.; Lionel Lord Tennyson, From Verse to Worse.

THERRY, JOHN JOSEPH (1790-1864), early Roman Catholic priest at Sydney,

was born at Cork, Ireland, in 1790. His people were in comfortable circumstances and the boy was largely educated by a tutor at home. In 1812 he was at the ecclesiastical college of St Patrick at Carlow, and in 1815 was ordained as a priest. He did parish work in Dublin and later on was secretary to the bishop of Cork. He had heard that Catholic convicts in Australia were without a priest to minister to them, and let it be known that he would be willing to go there as a missionary. On 5 December 1819 he sailed on the James with another priest, the Rev. P. Conolly, as a companion. They arrived at Sydney on 3 May 1820. Unlike the Rev. Father O'Flynn, who had previously arrived without government sanction. and had been deported, the two priests were accredited chaplains with a salary from the government of ?100 a year each. The two men were of different temperaments and found it difficult to agree, and in 1821 Conolly went to Tasmania and remained there until his death in 1839.

Therry set about his work with great vigour. His chief anxiety was the need of a church, and in view of the increase in the population of Sydney in future years, it was decided that it should be on a large scale. Almost by chance the site on which St Mary's cathedral now stands was granted by the government, subscriptions were given by generous people, including many non-catholics, and by 1823 it had been agreed that if a fresh subscription were opened the government would give a sum "equal to the sum total of all such additional donations". Governor Macquarie had laid the foundation-stone on 29 October 1821. Governor Brisbane (q.v.), who succeeded Macquarie, was tolerant and helpful, but when Governor Darling arrived in December 1825 a period of anxiety for Therry and his church set in. In June 1826 Therry sent a letter to Colonial Secretary McLeay which Darling described as "insulting" when it was sent on to the colonial office. It was certainly a tactless letter, and one that could hardly be expected to help Therry in his work (See H.R. of A., vol. XII, p. 543). He had been in conflict with Darling before, and in February 1826 Bathurst had sent instructions that his salary should be stopped. Darling had not yet received this dispatch, and he now asked that Therry should be removed. For the next 12 years, until 1857, Therry was without the official status of a government chaplain. The Rev. Father Power was appointed chaplain, a man in poor health, who was compelled at times to accept assistance from Therry, though the two men were unable to find a way of living amicably together. Power, however, died in March 1830, Therry was again alone, and the government was compelled to countenance his ministrations. He was much helped by a friendship he formed with a namesake, Roger Therry (q.v.), who arrived in Sydney towards the end of 1829, held many important positions, and became a leading Roman Catholic layman. In September 1831 Therry was supplanted by the Rev. C. V. Dowling who succeeded Power. Similar difficulties arose, but Darling had left at the end of 1830 and the arrival of the wise and just Governor Bourke (q.v.) gave new hope to the Roman Catholic community. In August 1832 the Rev. John McEncroe came to Sydney and established a friendship with Therry. In February 1833 Father Ullathorne (q.v.) arrived and informed Therry that he had come as vicar-general, and Therry at once submitted to his authority. Ullathorne, who was young with a fine grasp of business, was at times critical of Therry's lack of this quality, but realized how truly religious he was and how hard he had worked for his people. In May 1834 John Bede Polding (q.v.), the first Roman Catholic bishop in Australia, was appointed and arrived in September 1835. In April 1837 Therry was officially reinstated as a chaplain at a salary of ?150 a year, and in April 1838 he arrived at Launceston on a mission to the Church in Tasmania. In March 1839 he permanently took up his position in Tasmania as vicar-general and worked there with some success.

The arrival of R. W. Willson (q.v.), first bishop of Hobart, in May 1844 led to much unhappiness for Therry. Bishop Willson had stipulated before accepting the see that Therry should be recalled from Hobart before his arrival. This was not done and the bishop promptly removed Therry from office. Difficulties also arose concerning the responsibility for church debts, and eventually Therry was suspended from all clerical duties. He remained for two years in Tasmania and in August 1846 was transferred to Melbourne, where he made a reputation for his charity and missionary work. After a fruitless visit to Tasmania, made in the hope of composing his differences with the bishop, he went to Sydney in 1847 and was made priest in charge at Windsor. In September 1848 he was again in Hobart, and remained for five years, much occupied with matters relating to the disputes over the finances. Early in 1854 he returned to Sydney and in May 1856 again took up parish work at St Augustine's, Balmain. He seems to have had by now considerable private means, as in August 1856 he gave ?2000 to the fund for the completion of the cathedral. Many friendless men had left their small belongings to him, and land granted to him in the early days had become valuable. In 1858 he was raised to the dignity of archpriest. On 25 May 1864 he died after a few hours illness, working to the last day of his life.

Therry fought a great fight for his Church in its early days in Australia. His want of business habits and impulsiveness made great difficulties for his superiors and himself, but his merits far overbore his human defects. The last word may be given to one not of his faith: "Very small in stature, slight in figure, active in mind and body, he had beneath the sacerdotal robe the soul of a revolutionist in the interests of his flock and of his Church. And yet with all his fiery zeal and reputed turbulence, he was of a really loveable nature with the very simplicity and tenderness of a child". (J. Bonwick, An Octogenarian's Reminiscences, p. 123).

Eris M. O'Brien, Life and Letters of Archpriest John Joseph Therry; Eris M. O'Brien, The Dawn of Catholicism in Australia; J. P. Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australia; T. Kenny, History of the Commencement and Progress of Catholicity in Australia; H. N. Birt, Benedictine Pioneers in Australia; Ed. by Shane Leslie, From Cabin-boy to Archbishop, printed from the original draft and more outspoken than the official Autobiography of Archbishop Ullathorne; C. Butler, The Life and Times of Bishop Ullathorne.

THERRY, SIR ROGER (1800-1874), jurist,

was born in Ireland on 22 April 1800. He was called to the bar in Ireland in 1824 and in England in 1827. His A Letter to the Right Hon. George Canning on the Present State of the Catholic Question, published in 1826, second edition 1827, probably led to his acquaintance with that statesman, who employed him to edit his speeches and prepare them for publication. They were published after Canning's death in 1828 with a life of Canning written by Therry. By the influence of Canning's widow and friends Therry was appointed commissioner of the court of requests for New South Wales, and in July 1829 he set sail for Sydney. He was a Roman Catholic, and on his arrival found that most of his co-religionists were poor, and few held positions of importance in Sydney. He also found that while the Anglican Church was comparatively well subsidized by the state, very little was allowed to the Roman Catholic clergy. He endeavoured with considerable success to improve their position, and for the next 30 years held an important place among the Catholic laity. He was made a magistrate in 1830 and in 1839 refused an acting judgeship. Governor Gipps (q.v.), in a dispatch notifying this to Lord Glenelg, referred to Therry as one of the "two most distinguished barristers of New South Wales". He was appointed acting attorney-general in 1841, and at the first election for the legislative council held in 1843 he was elected as the representative of Camden. In December 1844 Therry was appointed resident judge at Port Phillip and held the position until February 1846, when he became a judge of the supreme court of New South Wales. He visited England in 1847 and retired on a pension in 1859. His Reminiscences of Thirty Years Residence in New South Wales and Victoria was published at the beginning of 1863 and immediately withdrawn. The new edition which appeared in the same year was not, however, an "expurgated version" as has been stated. Some errors were corrected, but the changes are not considerable. The most important were that the author did fuller justice to the work of three governors, Gipps (q.v.), Fitzroy (q.v.), and La Trobe (q.v.), and a map was added. Therry died on 17 May 1874. He was survived by Lady Therry and probably a family, as when he applied for leave of absence in July 1846, he mentioned that he had two daughters being educated in England. He was knighted in 1869.

Therry was a good lawyer and a good citizen who did valuable work for Roman Catholics in New South Wales, at a time when they were being treated with little justice.

Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. XVII-XXV; R. Therry, Reminiscences of Thirty Years' Residence in New South Wales and Victoria. This also gives interesting and generally kindly reviews of the men of his period; Aubrey Halloran, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. XII, pp. 46-51; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; E. M. O'Brien, The Life of Arch-Priest J. J. Therry; British Museum Catalogue.

THOMAS, MARGARET (c. 184?-1929), artist and author,

daughter of a shipowner, was born at Croydon, Surrey, England, probably between 1840 and 1845. She was brought to Australia by her parents in 1852 and later on studied sculpture under Charles Summers (q.v.) at Melbourne. She exhibited a medallion portrait at the first exhibition of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts held in 1857, and 10 years later went to Europe to continue her studies. She had a medallion shown at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1868; after studying for three years at Rome she obtained a studentship at the Royal Academy, London, and in 1872 won the silver medal for sculpture. Between 1873 and 1877 ten of her paintings, mostly portraits, were hung at exhibitions of the Royal Academy. In 1880 Miss Thomas wrote a memoir of Summers, her first master, A Hero of the Workshop, and in the same year completed a bust of him for the shire hall, Taunton. She afterwards did busts of Henry Fielding and other distinguished Somersetshire men for the same place. She began contributing verse to periodicals and in 1888 Douglas Sladen included seven of her poems in his Australian Poets. Miss Thomas subsequently wrote several books of which A Scamper through Spain and Tangier (1892), and Two Years in Palestine and Syria (1899), were illustrated by the author. In 1902 appeared an interesting little book, Denmark Past and Present, which was followed by How to Judge Pictures (1906), and a collection of her verse, A Painter's Pastime (1908). In 1911 appeared what was possibly her most valuable piece of work, How to Understand Sculpture. Another volume of verse, Friendship, Poems in Memoriam, was published in 1927. She also did a large number of illustrations in colour for From Damascus to Palmyra, by John Kelman, published in 1908. She died on 24 December 1929 (Obituary Who's Who 1931). Her portrait in oils of Charles Summers, and a medallion portrait of Sir Redmond Barry (q.v.), are in the historical collection at the public library, Melbourne.

P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; D. B. W. Sladen, Australian Poets, 1788-1888, p. 541; Who's Who, 1930; A. Graves, The Royal Academy Exhibitors; Catalogue of the First Exhibition of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts, 1857.

THOMAS, MORGAN (c. 1818-1903), public benefactor,

was born in Wales about the year 1818 (The Advertiser, Adelaide, which had been in touch with his executors stated that he was 85 when he died in March 1903). He qualified for the medical profession and came to Adelaide in 1851. He was appointed first house surgeon to the Adelaide hospital and practised at Nairne and Adelaide. He retired about 1870 and except for occasional trips to Europe and America, lived in Adelaide for the rest of his life. He had inherited property in Wales, and invested his money judiciously in bank and other shares. A much respected man of regular and precise habits, he spent much of his time at the Adelaide public library. He died at Adelaide on 8 March 1903. His wife had died many years before and he had no children. Under his will about ?65,000 was left to the public library, museum and art gallery at Adelaide.

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 12 and 21 March 1903; The Register, Adelaide, 14 March 1903; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art.

THOMPSON, JOHN ASHBURTON (1846-1915), physician, authority on plague and leprosy,

eldest son of John Thompson, solicitor, was born in England in August 1846. He was educated at St Paul's School, and University College, London, and qualified for the diplomas of the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians. In 1878 he obtained the degree of M.D. with distinction at the Brussels university. From 1872 to 1878 he was surgeon at King's Cross to the Great Northern Railway Company, and also had a private practice. His health breaking down towards the end of 1878 from overwork, he went first to New Zealand and then to New South Wales. He led an open-air life until his health was completely restored, and in 1883 was sent to Mackay to investigate an epidemic of dengue. Returning to Sydney in 1884 he was given the post of temporary medical officer to the Board of Health, and a year later was appointed its chief medical inspector and deputy medical adviser to the government of New South Wales. There was no public health act and his activities were therefore much restricted, but in 1896, having been made president of the board of health, he assisted Sir George Reid (q.v.) in drafting a bill, which became law in November of that year. He also prepared all the necessary regulations which were still unchanged at the time of his death. Thompson had taken much interest in leprosy and had visited Molokai and the Hawaian Islands to investigate it. In 1896 he was awarded the prize offered by the national leprosy fund of Great Britain for the best history of leprosy. When there was an outbreak of plague at Sydney early in 1900, he was in charge of the measures taken to combat it, and wrote an elaborate and able Report on the Outbreak of Plague at Sydney, 1900, which was issued at the end of that year. Thompson adopted the theory of the French doctor, P. L. G. Simond, now generally accepted, that the disease was communicated to man by fleas from infected rats. His general conclusion was that "the best protection against epidemic plague lies in sufficient sanitary laws persistently and faithfully executed during the absence of the disease". He delivered an address on plague at the 1906 meeting of the American medical association held at Boston, and was asked to write a description of the disease for Gould and Pyle's Cyclopedia of Medicine, issued in U.S.A. He retired on a pension in 1913 and died at London on 16 September 1915. He married a daughter of Sir Julian Salomons (q.v.), who survived him. Thompson was an energetic and hard-working servant of the public who did admirable work in organizing the public health department of Sydney. He was a leading authority of his time in such diseases as leprosy, plague, and small-pox, and wrote several papers, and pamphlets on other medical subjects.

The Medical Journal of Australia, September 1915; The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 September 1915.

THOMSON, ALEXANDER (1800-1866), a pioneer of Melbourne and Geelong,

son of Alexander Thomson, a shipowner of Aberdeen, Scotland, was born in 1800. He was educated at Dr Todd's school at Tichfield, Aberdeen university, and at London, where he studied under Sir Everard Home and qualified for the medical profession. In March 1824 he married Barbara Dalrymple, and in 1825 sailed to Tasmania as a surgeon on a convict ship, the first of several voyages made by him. He was then in comfortable circumstances having been left a sum of ?9500 by his mother. In 1831 he decided to settle in Tasmania, and bringing with him his wife and daughter, obtained a grant of 4000 acres of land. In 1832 he bought two small steamers and established a service between Hobart and Kangaroo Point. He, however, sold both vessels during the next two years. He became interested in the colonization of Port Phillip, but did not join the Port Phillip Association, though invited to do so, and in November 1835 he sent across the first cattle to arrive in the new settlement, a draft of 50 Hereford cows. In March 1836 Thomson arrived with his wife and daughter. He came over as medical officer and catechist for the Port Phillip Association, and built a house near the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth-streets, Melbourne. In May he acted as one of three arbitrators in connexion with disputes between Henry Batman and Fawkner (q.v.), and before his house was completed he was in the habit of holding a service on Sunday in his tent. He was secretary to the first public meeting held in Melbourne, on 1 June, and in October Lonsdale (q.v.) appointed him medical officer at a salary of ?200 a year. He resigned this position in January 1837, and having selected land on the present site of Geelong, settled there. He did some exploring, acquired more land in several localities, and in 1846 held about 150,000 acres. He was a director of the Port Phillip bank, which was a failure, and the Port Phillip Steam Navigation Company, and he was the first to make cash advances on wool. He was foremost in every movement connected with Geelong from the removal of the bar at the mouth of the harbour to the founding of a mechanics' institute. He also took much interest in church affairs and in the well-being of the aborigines. In these matters he gave not only time, he also spent considerable sums of money. The town was incorporated in 1849, then having 8000 inhabitants, and, as was fitting, Thomson was elected its first mayor. He field this position again in 1851, 1855, 1856 and 1857. He had been elected a member of the New South Wales legislative council as one of the representatives of the Port Phillip district in 1843, but as it was impossible to attend the meetings at Sydney, soon resigned. He was active in the anti-transportation movement, in 1852 was elected a member of the Victorian legislative council, and brought in and passed a bill incorporating the "Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company". Thomson presided at the first meeting of shareholders and was one of the directors. The line was completed in 1857. In the meanwhile Thomson had resigned his seat in the council and visited England where he found he could get no information about the Australian colonies bills. There had been a change of ministers and Lord John Russell, now in charge of the colonial office, had gone to Vienna. Thomson followed him there, obtained an interview, and got a promise that there would be a separate constitution bill for the colony of Victoria. In May 1855 Lord John Russell sent him a copy of the bill which soon afterwards became law. In 1857 Thomson was elected member for Geelong in the Victorian legislative assembly but retired in April 1859. His many activities had led to the neglect of his own financial affairs, and towards the end of his life he accepted the position of medical officer to the Sunbury boys' home. He died at Geelong on 1 January 1866. His wife survived him with a daughter.

R. H. Croll and R. R. Wettenhall, Dr Alexander Thomson; The Argus, Melbourne, 3 January 1866; R. D. Boys, First Years at Port Phillip; H. G. Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria.

THOMSON, SIR EDWARD DEAS (1800-1879), administrator, and chancellor of Sydney university,

was born at Edinburgh on 1 June 1800. His father Sir John Deas Thomson, was accountant-general to the navy and married Rebecca, daughter of John Freer. Their son was educated at Edinburgh high school, and at Harrow. He afterwards spent two years in study at Caen in Normandy. He then began working with his father who at that time was reorganizing the system of keeping accounts in the navy. In 1826 Thomson visited the United States and Canada, and on his return in 1827 accepted the position of registrar of the orphan chambers at Demarara. Before leaving England he was able to arrange to exchange this position for that of clerk to the New South Wales legislative and executive councils. He arrived in Sydney in December 1828 and proved to be a valuable officer. In January 1837 he became colonial secretary at a salary of ?1500 a year and held this position for nearly 20 years. He carried out his duties with much tact, and during the stormy period of the governorship of Sir George Gipps (q.v.) it has been said of him that he was personally so respected that members of the council found it almost painful to oppose him. His experience was particularly useful during the passing of the constitution bill, and he was sent with Wentworth (q.v.) to England to see the bill through the Imperial parliament. In 1854 he was given a public testimonial, half the amount subscribed being expended on a piece of plate and the remainder given to Sydney university to found a scholarship in his name. Thomson was asked by the governor, Sir William Denison (q.v.), to form the first government under the new constitution but was unable to do so. He entered the legislative council and was vice-president of the executive council in the Parker (q.v.) ministry, and on 19 August 1857 moved for a select committee on the question of Australian federation. The committee reported in favour of a federal assembly being established but the Charles Cowper (q.v.) ministry had come into power in the meantime, and the question was shelved.

Thomson continued to be a member of the legislative council until his death, but his health had suffered from his heavy work as colonial secretary and he no longer attempted to take a leading part in its proceedings. He had been granted a substantial pension on his retirement in 1856 and he now had time to devote himself to other interests. He had been an original member of the senate of the university of Sydney when it was founded in 1850, he became vice-chancellor in 1862, and was chancellor from 1865 until 1878. He took an interest in sporting matters and for some years was president of the Australian jockey Club. During his visit to England he had been made a C.B. and he was created K.C.M.G. in 1874. He died on 16 July 1879. He married the second daughter of Sir Richard Bourke (q.v.), who survived him with two sons and five daughters. His portrait is in the great hall of the university of Sydney.

Thomson had immense influence in the period just preceding responsible government. He was the ideal public servant, well-educated, capable, loyal, honest, calm and tactful, earning the respect of even the stormy spirits who brought Gipps to his grave. He showed wisdom on the financial side in his tariff bill of 1852, and, though his work for federation was based on Wentworth's, he ranks among the early federalists.

Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 1879; G. W. Rusden, History of Australia; Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. XIV, XV, XVIII, XIX, XXII, XXIV, XXV; H. E. Barff, A Short Historical Account of the University of Sydney; Robert A. Dallen, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. XIX, pp. 221-4.

THORN, GEORGE (1838-1905), premier of Queensland,

was the son of George Thorn, the founder of Ipswich and a member of the first Queensland legislative assembly. He was born at Sydney in 1838 and was educated at The King's School, Parramatta, and Sydney university, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1858. He followed pastoral pursuits for some years, and in 1867 was elected for West Moreton in the Queensland legislative assembly. From January 1874 to June 1876 he was a member of the Macalister (q.v.) government as postmaster-general and representative of the ministry in the legislative council. He then succeeded Macalister as premier and was also secretary for public works, postmaster-general and secretary for mines. He resigned on 8 March 1877 when his ministry was merged in the Douglas (q.v.) ministry. In the new cabinet he held the portfolios of public works and mines and was also secretary for public lands for a few months. He resigned from the ministry in February 1878 and went to Europe as a Queensland commissioner to the Paris exhibition. In 1879 he was elected to the legislative assembly but did not again hold office. He was defeated in 1888, was again elected in 1893, and held the seat until 1902. He died in 1905. Thorn was an astute politician with a genial manner who gained prominence chiefly on account of his personal popularity.

J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; C. A. Bernays, Queensland Politics during Sixty Years; The Year Book of Australia, 1889 to 1906.

THRELFALL, SIR RICHARD (1861-1932), chemist and engineer,

son of Richard Threlfall of Hollowforth, near Preston, Lancashire, was born on 14 August 1861. He was educated at Clifton College, where he was captain of the Rugby XV, and shot in the Rifle VIII. Going on to Caius College, Cambridge, he represented his university at Rugby and also at rifle shooting. He distinguished himself as a speaker at the union, and did a remarkable course, taking a first class in the first part of the natural science tripos, and a first in both physics and chemistry in the second part. After graduating he was appointed a demonstrator in the Cavendish laboratory, where he did successful original research work and showed himself to be an able teacher. He also studied at Strasburg university and for a short period was a successful university coach. He lost two-thirds of his fingers in an explosion while he was carrying nitro-glycerine, but in spite of this continued to be an excellent manipulator.

In 1886 Threlfall was appointed professor of physics at the university of Sydney and founded the school. He had no building and little apparatus when he began his work, but in 1888 a physical laboratory was completed and the necessary appliances were purchased. He carried out his duties with energy and also found time for research. An early invention was the rocking microtome, an instrument which proved to be of great value in biological study. Another was a quartz thread balance which enabled him to obtain great accuracy in his comparison of values for gravity at different places. In 1896 he was president of a royal commission on the carriage of coal in ships. He obtained leave of absence in 1898 to inquire into methods of teaching electrical subjects in Europe, but on his return resigned his chair as from 31 December 1898, as circumstances had made it necessary that he should live in England.

Threlfall now became a consulting engineer and established a high reputation as an electro-chemist, combining chemical insight with the aptitude of an engineer. He joined the firm of Albright and Wilson, large producers of phosphorus, at Oldbury, and continued his connexion until the time of his death. His experience in this direction was to prove of the greatest service to his country during the 1914-18 war, particularly in connexion with smoke screens and tracer bullets. In 1915 he was on the board of inventions and research, in 1916 he joined the advisory council for scientific and industrial research and also the munitions inventions board. In 1917 he became a member of the chemical warfare committee, and in 1918 he joined the food preservation board. An organization which carried on its work after the war, the fuel research board was joined by him in 1917 and he became its chairman in 1923. Though his main work was in industrial chemistry he kept up his interest in pure science, and was a frequent attendant at meetings of the Royal Society of London. He died on 10 July 1932. He married Evelyn Agnes, daughter of John Forster-Baird, one of four sisters who all married distinguished men, one of whom was B. R. Wise (q.v.). She was the author of two volumes of verse Starlight Songs, and The Shore of Dreams and other Verses. Threlfall was survived by four sons and two daughters. He was the author of On Laboratory Arts, published in 1898, and of papers in scientific journals. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1899, and was created K.B.E. in 1917 and G.B.E. in 1927.

Threlfall was a fine figure of a man who was able to admirably fill the part of Hercules in the Greek play at Cambridge in 1882. In later years his somewhat rough exterior and abrupt manner of speech hid one of the kindest of hearts, and however successful he might be he could still rejoice in the success of others. His interest in science was wide. After his death a friend told how, though a keen fisherman, Threlfall interrupted his sport one day for three-quarters of an hour to watch the elaborate and fascinating procedure of the courtship of the small tortoise shell butterfly. His remarkable personality was a refreshing stimulus for both his contemporaries and for younger workers who came in contact with him, and his experience and knowledge were of great value to his country.

The Times, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22 July 1932; Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. CXXXIX A, 1933; H. E. Barff, A Short Historical Account of the University of Sydney; Calendar of the University of Sydney, 1899; Burke's Peerage, etc., 1931.

THRELKELD, LANCELOT EDWARD, (1788-1859), missionary to the aborigines and scholar,

son of Samuel Joseph Threlkeld, was born in England on 20 October 1788. He was well educated, and in 1814 the London Missionary Society accepted him as a missionary to the heathen. In the following year he was ordained as a missionary and sailed for Tahiti, but the illness and subsequent death of his child detained Threlkeld for a year at Rio de Janeiro, where he started a Protestant church. He left for Sydney on 22 January 1817, arrived on 11 May, after a short stay went to the South Sea Islands, and arrived at Eimeo in November. A missionary station was formed at Raiatea and Threlkeld worked there for nearly seven years. His wife died, and being left with four children he returned to Sydney in 1824. A mission to the aborigines was founded at Lake Macquarie, 10,000 acres were reserved, and Threlkeld was appointed missionary. He went to live with the aborigines on their reservation, and in 1826 published Specimens of a Dialect of the Aborigines of New South Wales (author's own statement but the British Museum copy is dated 1827). In 1828 he came in conflict with the London Missionary Society which objected to his incurring unauthorized expenses in connexion with the mission. Threlkeld in reply published a pamphlet which the treasurer of the society described as "virulent". The connexion with the Missionary Society was severed and it was decided that Threlkeld should be allowed to continue his work with a salary of ?150 a year from the colonial government. He was also allowed four convict servants with rations. In 1834 he published An Australian Grammar, comprehending the Principles and Natural Rules of the Language, as spoken by the Aborigines, in the vicinity of Hunter's river, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales. This was followed in 1836 by An Australian Spelling Book in the Language spoken by the Aborigines. Threlkeld worked on for some years and began translating the New Testament into the Hunter's River language of the aborigines, but by 1842 it was realized that he was having little or no success in his mission which was then given up. Threlkeld had received a legacy from his father's estate which apparently was spent on his mission house and this reverted to the crown when the mission was abandoned. In 1842 Threlkeld became pastor of the Congregational church at Watson's Bay, Sydney, and in 1845 he was appointed minister of the Mariners' church at Sydney and continued in this position until his death. In 1850 he published A Key to the Structure of the Aboriginal Language, and he was still working on a translation of the four Gospels when he died suddenly at Sydney on 10 October 1859. He was married twice and was survived by sons and daughters of both marriages. In 1892 An Australian Language as spoken by the Awabakal the People of Awaba or Lake Macquarie being an account of their Language, Traditions and Customs; by L. E. Threlkeld. Rearranged, condensed, and edited, with an Appendix by John Fraser, B.A., LL.D., was issued by the government of New South Wales.

Threlkeld, though a man of benevolent nature, had an active and impulsive mind and little art in concealing his opinions. He came in conflict with the Missionary Society in the early days of his mission to the aborigines, and in his later years he was involved in many of the controversies of the time. He was, however, held in much respect, and though he succeeded neither in confining aborigines to a small reservation, which was against their habit of life, nor in bringing them to Christianity, he was able to do good work as an interpreter when they were charged with offences the nature of which they most imperfectly understood. His work on the aboriginal languages, the earliest of real value, was conscientiously done by a man who appreciated the difficulties of his task, and who had learned the pitfalls likely to be encountered.

Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. XI, XII, XV, XVI, XXI, XXIV, especially vol. XXI, pp. 739-42; J. Fraser, Introduction to An Australian Language, etc., 1892, pp. XI-XV; The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 October 1859; Ben. W. Champion, Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. XXV, pp. 279-330, 341-411.

THROSBY, CHARLES (1771-1828), explorer, [ also refer to Charles THROSBY page at Project Gutenberg Australia]

was born at Leicester, England, in 1771. He arrived in Australia as surgeon of the transport Coromandel on 13 June 1802, soon afterwards joined the medical staff, and in October was appointed a magistrate and acting-surgeon at Castle Hill. In August 1804 he was transferred to Newcastle, and in April 1805 was made superintendent there. Towards the end of 1808 he was given a grant of 500 acres at Cabramatta, and in the following year resigned his position at Newcastle. In 1811 he was employed as agent by Sir John Jamison (q.v.), subsequently paid a visit to England, and in 1817 did some exploration near Moss Vale and Sutton Forest. On 3 March 1818, with James Meehan (q.v.), he set out to discover a route to Jervis Bay, and about three weeks later the party having been split up, Throsby's section reached Jervis Bay by way of the Kangaroo and Lower Shoalhaven rivers. Another valuable piece of exploration was begun by Throsby on 25 April 1819 when he left the Cowpastures, and travelling first south-south-west, then west, north-west, and north-north-west, finished his journey near the site of Bathurst. Macquarie stated in a dispatch that "the rich fertile country passed over by Mr Throsby . . . will be fully equal to meet every increase of the population . . . for many years". Throsby himself was given a grant of land near Moss Vale. He was put in charge of the construction of a road to the Goulburn plains and in August of that year two of his men discovered Lake George. In October Governor Macquarie (q.v.) visited this district with Throsby, and while he was there Throsby and two other men made further explorations. The details of this trip are lost, but it is probable that Throsby passed through what is now the federal territory and that he discovered the Yass River. On 20 March 1821 Throsby with two companions made an expedition to discover the Murrumbidgee River, having heard of its existence from the aborigines. Coming first to the Molonglo River he probably discovered the Murrumbidgee below Tuggerenong early in April 1821. In November 1824 Throsby was one of the 10 landholders and merchants submitted by Governor Brisbane (q.v.) to Earl Bathurst as suitable for appointment for a colonial council, and when the council was formed in December 1825 three of these were appointed of whom Throsby was one. His standing in the community was very high and he was the owner of about 20,000 acres and large and valuable herds of cattle. Unfortunately for himself, about the year 1811 he had become security for the purchase of a vessel by a friend who had left the colony and then died. Proceedings were taken against Throsby which were long drawn out, and eventually a verdict against him was obtained for ?4000. His health had not been good for some time and becoming depressed, on 2 April 1828 he committed suicide by shooting himself. Though Throsby's name is seldom mentioned in the history of Australian exploration, his work was valuable and had an important influence on the opening up of the country beyond the Blue Mountains.

F. Watson, A Brief History of Canberra; Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. III to XIV.

THROSSELL, GEORGE (1840-1910), premier of Western Australia,

the son of G. M. Throssell, was born at Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland, on 23 May 1840. He came to Western Australia with his father in 1850 and was educated at the public school, Perth. He entered the employ of Padbury and Fermaner, merchants, Perth, but in 1861 started in business for himself at Northam. He was intimately connected with this district all his life and entering the municipal council at an early age, was mayor of Northam for nine years. In 1890 he was elected unopposed for Northam to the legislative assembly, and in March 1897 became commissioner for crown lands in the Forrest (q.v.) ministry. When Forrest entered federal politics in February 1901, Throssell succeeded him as premier and treasurer, but the ministry was defeated in the following May. Throssell did not stand for parliament at the 1904 election on account of his health, but in August 1907 was elected to the legislative council. He died at Northam on 30 August 1910. He married in 1861 Annie Morrell and was survived by seven daughters and five sons. He was created C.M.G. in 1909. His realization that agriculture must be developed was of great value to Western Australia. He was in office when enormous quantities of gold were being produced, but he nevertheless worked with energy to encourage closer settlement, feeling that the future of the state would depend upon a proper use of the land. A son, Captain H. V. H. Throssell (1884-1934), fought with great distinction in the 1914-18 war and was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Gallipoli.

The West Australian, 31 August 1910; Who's Who, 1910; Who's Who in Australia, 1933.

THYNNE, ANDREW JOSEPH (1847-1927), politician,

son of Edward Thynne, was born in County Clare, Ireland, on 30 October 1847. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' school, Ennistymon, by a private tutor, and at Queen's College, Galway, where he won a classical scholarship. He came to Brisbane with his parents in 1864, but the family soon after removed to Ipswich. Thynne entered the Queensland civil service, resigned later to take up the study of law, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1873. He prospered in his profession and in 1882 was appointed a member of the Queensland legislative council. He was minister for justice in the second McIlwraith (q.v.) ministry from June to Novembcr 1888 and held the same position when the ministry was reconstructed under Morehead (q.v.) until August 1890. He was honorary minister in the McIlwraith-Nelson (q.v.) ministry from May to October 1893, and minister for justice in the succeeding Nelson ministry from October 1893 to October 1894, then postmaster-general until March 1897, and from March 1896 to March 1898 minister for agriculture. He took a particular interest in agriculture, and was largely responsible for the founding of the agricultural college at Gatton and for the state experimental farms. During this busy period of Thynne's life he also represented Queensland at the 1891 federal convention, at the colonial conference held in Canada in 1894, at the postal conference at Hobart in 1895, and at the Pacific Cable conference in 1895-6. He was associated with the foundation of the university of Queensland, became a member of the first senate in 1910, vice-chancellor in 1916, and chancellor in 1926. During the 1914-18 war he worked with immense energy as chairman of the recruiting committee, resigning this post to carry on a campaign for conscription. He had joined the Queensland volunteer defence force when a young man in 1867 and had attained the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. He was a first-rate rifle-shot, having twice won the Queen's prize, and more than once captained the Queensland rifle team. His other interests may be suggested by the fact that at various times he was president of the Queensland ambulance brigade, the boy scouts association, the chamber of agriculture, the law association, and was chairman of the board of technical education. He retained his seat in the legislative council until his death on 27 February 1927. He was married twice, (1) to Mary, daughter of William Cairncross, and (2) to Mrs L. G. Corrie, who survived him with three sons and four daughters of the first marriage.

Thynne, who had a lovable personality, was a well-educated man, a persuasive speaker, a sound lawyer and a good soldier. As a politician he did excellent work for the dairying industry in Queensland, endeavoured to reform the legislative council from within, and when the first effort was made to abolish it fought in defence of it with great ability. He was strongly patriotic, and never spared himself during a long life devoted to working for his adopted country, for which he had much affection.

The Brisbane Courier, 28 February 1927; The Daily Mail, Brisbane, 28 February 1927; C. A. Bernays, Queensland Politics during Sixty Years.

TILLYARD, ROBERT JOHN (1881-1937), his first name is sometimes given as Robin, entomologist and geologist,

was the son of J. J. Tillyard and was born at Norwich on 31 January 1881. He was educated at Dover College and intended to enter the army but was rejected on account of having suffered from rheumatism. He won a scholarship for classics at Oxford and another for mathematics at Cambridge, and decided to go to Queen's College, Cambridge. He graduated senior optime in 1903. He went to Australia in 1904 and was appointed second mathematics and science master at Sydney Grammar School. Nine years later he resigned and did a research degree in biology at Sydney university and took his research B.Sc. degree in 1914. He was seriously injured in a railway accident in this year and had a slow recovery, but in 1915 became Linnean Macleay Fellow in Zoology at the university of Sydney. He was appointed lecturer in Zoology in 1917. In the same year he published in the Cambridge Zoological series, The Biology of Dragonflies, and he also received the Crisp prize and medal of the Linnean Society of London. In 1920 he was appointed chief of the department of biology at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand. In the same year the honorary degree of D.Sc. was conferred on him by Cambridge university.

Tillyard did good work in New Zealand and established a reputation for his work on the biological control of plant and insect pests. He is popularly best known for his introduction of a small wasp as an agent for controlling woolly aphis in apple-trees. In 1925 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, London, and in the following year he published his book on The Insects of Australia and New Zealand, a comprehensive work with many illustrations. In this year he was awarded the Trueman Wood medal of the Royal Society of Arts and Science, London, and was appointed assistant-director of the Cawthron Institute. He returned to Australia in 1928 to become chief Commonwealth entomologist under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He held this position for six years, but the state of his health compelled him to retire on a pension in 1934. While he was holding this position he was awarded the R. M. Johnston memorial medal of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1929 and the Clarke memorial medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1931. In 1935 he was given the von Mueller medal. His health improved after his retirement and he busily continued his scientific studies. He was well known in the United States which he had visited more than once. He died following a motor accident on 13 January 1937. He married in 1909 Patricia Cruske who survived him with four daughters. In his last years Tillyard was much interested in some work on supposed pre-Cambrian fossils in South Australia which was done in co operation with Edgeworth David (q.v.). The account of their investigations is contained in Memoir on Fossils of the late Pre-Cambrian, by David and Tillyard, published in 1936.

Tillyard had great enthusiasm and powers of work and was one of the most active-minded of men. He did important work in Australian palaeontology in his studies of Permian and Triassic insects, and was a foremost authority on fossil insects generally. His predominant interest, however, lay in the evolution of different types of insects and their biological control. As an entomologist he had a world-wide reputation. His published papers must have approached 200. Some of them were appearing in America in the last year of his life. He was also much interested in psychical phenomena, and attempted to apply scientific methods to their investigation.

A. D. Imms, Nature, 30 January 1937; F. Chapman, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 1937: The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 1937.

TITHERADGE, GEORGE SUTTON (1848-1916), actor,

was born at Portsmouth, England, on 9 December 1848. He made his first appearance on the stage at the Theatre Royal, Portsmouth, subsequently supported Charles Dillon in Shakespearian plays, and in 1873 played the junior lead at Bristol. In 1876 he was Joseph Surface in the Chippendale classical company, and in the same year played Hamlet at Calcutta. On 1 January 1877 he was the Herald at the Calcutta Durbar and proclaimed Queen Victoria Empress of India. He made his first appearance in London in October 1877, and on 8 April 1878 played Iago to the Othello of Henry Forrester. He visited India a second time and, going on to Australia, made his first appearance there in May 1879 as Lord Arthur Chilton in False Shame. He joined the London Comedy Company at Sydney in 1880. After a world tour including the United States, Titheradge was engaged in 1883 by Williamson and Garner to come to Australia and play Wilfred Denver in The Silver King. He made a great success in this character, and in leading parts in other popular dramas of the period. He joined the Brough and Boucicault (q.v.) company in 1887, and for 10 years played lead in plays by Robertson, Grundy, Jones, Pinero and other dramatists of the period. There was one Shakespearian production, Much Ado About Nothing, in which Titheradge was an excellent Benedick to the Beatrice of Mrs Brough. He must have played something like 100 parts in Australia, not one without distinction, and many seemed almost faultless. Possibly his Aubrey Tanqueray and Village Priest returned most often to the memories of play-goers of the time. He went to London in 1898, and played with success with Mrs Patrick Campbell, including his old part of Aubrey Tanqueray, and was with her company in America in 1902, among his parts being Schwartze in Magda. In January 1903 he played Professor Rubeck at the Imperial Theatre, London, in Ibsen's When We Dead Awaken, and later in the year toured America with Henry Miller and Margaret Anglin in Camille, The Devil's Disciple, and other plays. He was in the United States again late in 1905, and toured with Sothern and Julia Marlowe. In England in 1907 he was with Sir John Hare's company in Caste and A Pair of Spectacles. He returned to Australia in 1908 and in that year and in 1909 played in The Thief, The Taming of the Shrew, The Village Priest, The Silver King and other plays. During the remainder of his life Titheradge made only occasional appearances, among them being in The Village Priest, with Mrs Brough in 1912, Shylock to the Portia of Ellen Terry at her benefit at Sydney in 1914, and George II in a Lewis Waller production of A Fair Highwayman. He died at Sydney on 22 January 1916. He married about 1879 Alma Santon who survived him with a son and six daughters, of whom Madge Titheradge, born in Melbourne, in 1887, made a reputation as an actress in London, playing many leading parts. The son, Dion Titheradge, born in Melbourne in 1889, after experience as an actor in Australia, U.S.A. and England, became well-known as a producer and author of many plays and scenarios.

Titheradge was over medium height, well-formed, and an artist to his finger tips. He was the personification of natural acting, and every gesture seemed the inevitable one. It was said of him that to play Aubrey Tanqueray he only needed to play himself, a cultured gentleman. But he would have dissented strongly from this; he had no patience with the "typing" of actors which became so prevalent in the present century. And though he believed in naturalness on the stage he considered it was being overdone and was leading to dullness, when he returned to England at the close of the century. Personally Titheradge was everywhere much respected; he was president of the Actors' Association of Australia at the time of his death. The charm of his personality is well suggested in the article in the Bookfellow referred to below. In private life he was interested in the growing of daffodils and in botany.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 January 1916; Who's Who in the Theatre, 1914; The Bookfellow, 1 December 1911; The Lone Hand, 1 January 1912; personal knowledge.

TODD, SIR CHARLES (1826-1910), postmaster-general and government astronomer, South Australia,

son of G. Todd, was born at Islington, London, on 7 July 1826, and was educated at Greenwich. In December 1841 he entered the service of the royal observatory, Greenwich, under Sir George Airey and in 1846 was one of the earliest observers of the planet Neptune. He was appointed assistant astronomer at the Cambridge observatory in 1847, and in May 1854 was placed in charge of the galvanic department at Greenwich. In February 1855, he accepted the positions of superintendent of telegraphs and government astronomer to South Australia. He arrived at Adelaide on 5 November 1855 and found his department a very small one without a single telegraph line. The first line was opened in February 1856, and in June of that year he recommended that a line between Adelaide and Melbourne should be constructed. He personally rode over much of the country through which the line would have to pass. In 1859 he conceived the idea of the transcontinental line from Adelaide to Darwin. Most of the country in between except for the explorations of Sturt (q.v.) and others was unknown, and it was many years before Todd could convince the South Australian government of the practicability of the scheme. In 1868 the direct line between Adelaide and Sydney was completed and was used to determine the 141st meridian, the boundary line between South Australia and Victoria. Todd's calculations showed it to be 2? miles farther east than had previously been determined. This led to the long-drawn-out dispute between the two colonies. By 1870 it had been decided that the transcontinental line should be constructed though the other colonies declined to share in the cost. The southern and northern sections of the line were let by contract, and the 1000 miles in between was constructed by the department. The contractor at the northern end threw up his contract and Todd had to go to the north himself and finish it. Everything had to be sent by sea and then carted, but he met each difficulty as it arose, and overcame it successfully. The line was completed on 22 August 1872, but the cable to Darwin had broken and communication with England was not effected until 21 October. Todd had been given the position of postmaster-general in 1870, and henceforth ruled as a benevolent autocrat thoroughly trusted by his staff and the ministers in charge of his department. His next great work was a line of about 1000 miles to Eucla, establishing communication between Adelaide and Perth. In 1885 he attended the international telegraphic conference at Berlin. He continued to control his department with ability, and when the colonies were federated in 1901 it was found that, in spite of its large area and sparse population, South Australia was the only one whose post and telegraphic department was carried on at a profit. Todd continued in office as deputy-postmaster-general until 1905.

Though so much of his time was taken up by the duties of the postal department, Todd did not neglect his work as government astronomer. The observatory was thoroughly equipped with astronomical and meteorological instruments, and he contributed valuable observations to the scientific world on the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882, the cloudy haze over Jupiter in 1876, the parallax of Mars in 1878, and on other occasions. He took much interest in meteorology and enlisted his army of postal officials as meteorological observers. He selected the site of the new observatory for Perth in 1895 and advised on the building and instruments to be obtained. He was the author of numerous papers on scientific subjects, many of which were printed in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He retired in December 1906 having been over 51 years in the service of the South Australian government. He retained his vigour of mind and much of his bodily activity until shortly before his death near Adelaide on 29 January 1910. Todd was a leading spirit in the Royal Society of South Australia, the Astronomical Society, and the Institute of Surveyors, he was on the council of the university, and was vice-president of the board of trustees of the public library, museum and art gallery. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1864 and of the Royal Society in 1889. He was an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Cambridge gave him the honorary degree of M.A. in 1886, and he was created C.M.G. in 1872 and K.C.M.G. in 1893. He married in 1855 Alice Gillam, daughter of E. Bell of Cambridge, who died in 1898, and was survived by a son and four daughters. His daughter, Gwendoline, married Professor, afterwards Sir William Henry Bragg, O.M., F.R.S. (q.v.), and became the mother of Sir William Lawrence Bragg, F.R.S.

Todd was a man of great amiability and kindness. His besetting weakness was a habit of punning, but some of his playing with words was very good. When asked by a steward would he have some tea he replied, "Oh, yes, without T, I would be odd." He was extremely able, painstaking and industrious, a good judge of men who was honoured by his subordinates and trusted by politicians. He did valuable astronomical and meteorological work, he developed and managed the South Australian post and telegraph department with complete success, and his building of the transcontinental telegraph line in the conditions then existing was a remarkable achievement.

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 31 January 1910; The Register, Adelaide, 31 January 1910; Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, February 1911, p. 272; J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates.

TOMPSON, CHARLES (1806-1883), first Australian-born poet to publish a volume,

was born in 1806 at Sydney. He was educated at the Rev. Henry Fulton's (q.v.) school at Castlereagh, and entered the New South Wales public service. In 1826 he published Wild Notes from the Lyre of a Native Minstrel, by Charles Tompson, jun., the first volume of verse by one of the native-born to be published in Australia. He wrote some verse and much prose in later life, none of which has been collected in a volume. One poem, Australia, a translation of a Latin prize poem by S. Smith, appeared in the Sydney Gazette for 17 December 1829, and was published shortly after as a two-paged pamphlet, now very rare. Tompson was a clerk of petty sessions at Penrith in 1836 and subsequently at Camden. He was then appointed third clerk in the legislative council of New South Wales, rose to be clerk of parliaments in the legislative council, and, in 1860, clerk of the legislative assembly, where he was much liked by members as a courteous and obliging officer. He retired on a pension in 1869 and died at Sydney on 5 January 1883. He was only 20 years old when his volume was published. Considered as juvenilia it has some merit, but its chief interest lies in its having been the first of its kind.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 January, 1883; P. Serle, A Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse; H. M. Green, An Outline of Australian Literature; Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vol. XVIII; J. A. Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia.

TORRENS, SIR ROBERT RICHARD (1814-1884), pioneer and author of simplified system of transferring land,

was born at Cork, Ireland, in 1814. His father, Colonel Robert Torrens, F.R.S., the distinguished economist, was one of the founders of South Australia. Among his many works is a volume on the Colonization of South Australia, published in 1835, and as chairman of the South Australian commissioners he had much influence on the fortunes of the new settlement in its early days of difficulty. He married Charity Chute, and Robert Richard Torrens was their eldest son. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated M.A. He went to Australia in 1839 and in the same year married Barbara, widow of Augustus George Anson. In February 1841 he was collector of customs at Adelaide, and it is probable that he had received this position directly he arrived. In the enlarged legislative council elected in July 1851 Torrens was one of the four official nominees nominated by the governor and when responsible government came in, in October 1856, Torrens became treasurer in the ministry of B. T. Finniss (q.v.). He was elected as one of the members of the house of assembly for the city of Adelaide in the new parliament, and on 1 September 1857 became premier, but his government lasted less than a month. In December of the same year he passed his celebrated bill for the transfer of real property through the assembly. The system was that property was transferred by registration of title instead of by deeds, and it has since been widely adopted throughout the world. Attempts have been made to minimize the credit due to Torrens for his great achievement, and it has been stated that Anthony Forster, then editor of the Adelaide Register, made the original suggestion. In the preface to his The South Australian System of Conveyancing by Registration of Title, published at Adelaide in 1859, Torrens stated that his interest in the question had been aroused 22 years before through the misfortunes of a relation and friend, and that he had been working on the problem for many years. Whoever first suggested the present method which may have owed something to a report presented to the house of commons on 15 May 1857, it was Torrens who put it into practicable shape and fought it through parliament in spite of violent opposition from the legal profession. He later visited Victoria and assisted in bringing in the new system in that colony. In 1863 he left Australia, settled in England and was a member of the house of commons for Cambridge from 1868 to 1874. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1872 and G.C.M.G. in 1884, (The Times, 24 May 1884). He died on 31 August 1884. In addition to the volume already mentioned he published Speeches by R. R. Torrens (1858), A Handy Book on the Real Property Act of South Australia (1862), Transportation Considered as a Punishment and as a Mode of Founding Colonies (1863), and An Essay on the Transfer of Land by Registration (1882).

The Times, 3 September 1884; The South Australian Register, 11 September 1884; E. Hodder, The History of South Australia.

TOWNS, ROBERT (c. 1794-1873), businessman, pastoralist, and founder of Townsville,

was born at Long Horseley, Northumberland, England, on 10 November 1794. This is the date usually given, and it agrees with his death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 12 April 1873 which stated that he was then in his seventy-ninth year. The date given by the Australian Encyclopaedia, 1791, appears however, to be more likely, as after being educated at a village school Towns went to sea, was a mate in 1811, and a master in the following year. In 1813 he was captain of a brig in the Mediterranean, and in 1827 he made his first voyage to Australia as captain of The Brothers. In 1833 he married the sister of W. C. Wentworth (q.v.), and in 1842 established a mercantile and shipping business at Sydney. He afterwards bought station properties in Queensland, and about 1860 or a little later began growing cotton, employing South Sea islanders to do the cultivation and picking. Many attempts had been made to grow cotton in Australia before this time, but Towns was the first to do so on a large scale. Realizing that a port was needed on the Queensland coast north of Bowen, Towns arranged for explorations to be made from his stations, a suitable site was found at Cleveland Bay, and on to October 1865 it was gazetted as a port of entry and named Townsville. Working practically until the end Towns died at Sydney on 11 April 1873. He had been a member of the legislative council from 1856, and, although he did not take a leading part in politics, his advice was much sought in matters affecting business. A shrewd, generous, active, and independent man, Towns in his time was one of the leading citizens of Sydney, always interested in anything that would be for the good of the colony.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April 1873; J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates; P. Mennell, Dictionary of Australasian Biography; E. Palmer, Early Days in North Queensland, p. 150; Jubilee History of Queensland, p. 180.

TOZER, SIR HORACE, (1844-1916), politician,

son of H. T. N. Tozer, was born at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, in April 1844. Educated at the Collegiate School, Newcastle, he was admitted to practise as a solicitor at Brisbane in 1866. He settled at Gympie, established a successful practice and was alderman in the town's first council, elected in 1880. In 1888 he was elected to the legislative assembly, and was colonial secretary in the second Griffith (q.v.) ministry from August 1890 to March 1893, held the same position in the McIlwraith (q.v.)-Nelson (q.v.) ministry until October 1893, and was home secretary in the Nelson ministry until March 1898. In 1895, he brought in a very moderate shops early closing bill which passed the assembly but was rejected by the legislative council. In the following year, however, he succeeded in passing a factories and shops act which, though it did not go very far, was important on account of its being the first Queensland act regulating hours and conditions. In the same year under his direction the public library and the national art gallery were founded at Brisbane. In 1898 he was appointed agent-general for Queensland in London and held the position with ability until 1909, when he retired on account of failing health. He returned to Queensland and died at Brisbane on 20 August 1916. He married, (1) Mary Hoyles Wilson, and (2) Louisa Lord, who died in 1908. He was survived by two sons and two daughters. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1897.

Tozer was a man of ability who first made his reputation as an authority in mining law. He had an impressive manner and was a fluent, though not really good speaker. He was, however, a very well-known personality in his time, and showed much capability as an administrator. W. E. Roth (q.v.) in dedicating his Ethnological Studies to Tozer in 1897 spoke of his "determined efforts to ameliorate the condition of the Queensland aboriginal".

The Brisbane Courier, 21 August 1916; C. A. Bernays, Queensland Politics during Sixty Years; Who's Who, 1916; Debrett's Peerage, etc., 1916.

TRAILL, WILLIAM HENRY (c. 1842-1902), journalist,

only son of John Traill of Westeve, Orkney Islands, was born in London about the year 1842, and was educated at Edinburgh and London. Originally intended for the army, he emigrated to Australia when 17 years of age, landed at Sydney, went to Brisbane, and then became a jackeroo on a station near Dalby. About two years later he was left a small patrimony and returned to England. He stayed for only a few months, and going again to Queensland, became manager of the Maroon Estate in the Beaudesert district. He did not stay long in this position but visited Melbourne and joined the mines department, then returned to Queensland and was given a position in the lands department. He began doing journalistic work and in 1869 gave up his position to go on the literary staff of the Brisbane Courier. He subsequently purchased the Darling Downs Gazette, but later returned to the Courier, and in 1878 became editor of the Sydney Mail. He held this position for about a year, resigning to become Reuter's agent for New South Wales. At the end of January 1880 the Bulletin was started and Traill began contributing leaders to it. As the result of libel actions against that journal it fell into the hands of its printer. He sold it to Traill who met Archibald (q.v.) and Haynes, the original proprietors, and agreed with them to transfer a fourth interest to each of them on similar terms to those of the sale to him. They agreed to work together to make the Bulletin a success, but soon afterwards Haynes and Archibald were imprisoned for failing to pay the costs of the Clontarf libel action, and Traill became editor. He fixed its political policy, "land nationalization and protection, championed the Irish home rule case . . . and took a very practical interest in its welfare--from the production of a brilliantly-written unanswerable leader, to the phlegmatic explosions of an obsolete gas engine". (J. F. Archibald, the Lone Hand, September 1907). Having handed over the editorship to Archibald, Traill in 1883 went to America and engaged Livingston[e] Hopkins (q.v.) as a comic draughtsman, and about two years later travelled to England and engaged Phil May (q.v.) for similar work. These two men did remarkable work, and were largely responsible for the success of the Bulletin. In April 1886 Traill sold his interest in the Bulletin and a few years later was elected a member of the legislative assembly for South Sydney. He was defeated in 1895 and afterwards was engaged in pastoral and mining pursuits in New South Wales and Queensland. Towards the end of his life he lived at Brisbane and wrote for the Queensland government, A Queenly Colony, published in 1901. He died at Brisbane on 21 May 1902. He was twice married and left a widow, four sons and three daughters.

Physically a big man, Traill had a remarkable personality, a direct and forceful style of writing, deep-rooted convictions, and complete honesty.

The Brisbane Courier, 22 May 1902; The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 May 1902; The Genesis of the Bulletin, The Lone Hand, September to December 1907; A Century of Journalism, p. 688.

TRENWITH, WILLIAM ARTHUR (1847-1925), Labour leader,

was born at Launceston, Tasmania, in 1847. He was the second son of a Cornish bootmaker and began to learn this trade in his ninth year. In 1868 he went to Melbourne where he worked as a bootmaker. In 1879 he succeeded in forming a bootmakers' union, and stood for Villiers and Heytesbury as a Radical candidate for the legislative assembly, but was defeated. In 1886 he went to Adelaide in connexion with a strike in his trade and succeeded in drawing up a scale of wages which was accepted by both parties. He also organized a board of conciliation with representatives from both the employers and the workmen which lasted in Adelaide for a considerable time. In the same year he stood for parliament at Richmond, Victoria, but was again defeated. However, in 1887 he was elected president of the Melbourne trades hall and two years later was returned to the legislative assembly for Richmond, and held this seat until he resigned in November 1903 to enter federal politics.

In the legislative assembly Trenwith became the pioneer of the Labour party in Victorian Politics, and fought hard and had great influence during the disastrous shipping strike of 1890. In 1897 he was elected a member of the federal convention and sat on the constitutional committee. He was minister for railways and vice-president of the board of land and works in the Turner (q.v.) ministry from November 1900 to February 1901, and joined to those offices was chief secretary in the Peacock (q.v.) ministry from February 1901 to June 1902. He broke with the Labour party in 1901, as he felt unable to sign the pledges demanded of him, and in 1902 came under the displeasure of the then powerful David Syme (q.v.), proprietor of the Age. This combination of circumstances created some sympathy for Trenwith and at the second Commonwealth election held in 1903 he headed the poll in Victoria for the senate. He remained a senator until 1910, when the Labour party swept the polls and he was defeated. That closed his political career though he afterwards stood unsuccessfully for the Denison electorate in Tasmania. He died on 26 July 1925.

Trenwith did good pioneer work for the Labour party in Victoria and had great influence between 1880 and 1900. He was a good and logical speaker, and although looked upon as a demagogue by the conservatives of his period, was in reality moderate and reasonable in his efforts to improve the conditions of labour.

The Argus and The Age, Melbourne, 28 July 1925; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; H. G Turner, A History of the Colony of Victoria.

TROTT, GEORGE HENRY STEVENS (1866-1917), cricketer,

was born at Collingwood, Melbourne, on 5 August 1866. He began his career in first-class cricket in the 1885-6 season when he represented Victoria against South Australia. He was soon in the front rank of Australian cricketers, and visited England on four occasions, in 1888, 1890, 1893 and 1896, on the last occasion captaining the team. He was an excellent bat whose merit could not be gauged by averages, as he often showed to most advantage when his team was in difficulties. In the test match at Lords in 1896 the Australians made a very poor score in the first innings, but in the second Trott made a great effort in scoring 143 and with S. E. Gregory put on 221 for the fourth wicket. He was a fine slow bowler with an especially good leg break and an almost perfect length. He was a good point and a first-rate captain, imperturbable and good-humoured no matter how the game might be going. In January 1898 after playing a good innings on a day of extreme heat at Melbourne, he had an attack of sunstroke, which combined with somewhat convivial habits arising out of his good fellowship, probably led to his mind becoming temporarily deranged. Though confined for a period he could still enjoy batting and bowling, but when his turn came to field he would stroll to the edge of the ground and join the spectators. He was sensible enough for that, or possibly he never lost his sense of humour. He recovered and subsequently played first-class cricket, but was never quite the same man again. He died after a long illness on 9 November 1917. He was a general favourite and as an Australian captain probably ranked next after Noble (q.v.). In private life he belonged to the postal service.

His younger brother, Albert Edwin Trott (1873-1914), was also a great cricketer. He sprang into fame in the test match at Adelaide in 1895 when he scored 38 and 72 against Stoddart's team, both times not out, and in the last innings of the game took eight wickets for 43. For some unexplained reason he was left out of the 1896 Australian team, and going to London he qualified for Middlesex. In 1899 and 1900 he was probably the best all-round player in England, but he took little care of himself and his powers gradually declined. He played for Middlesex for the last time in 1910 and was afterwards an umpire. He had a long illness, and being without hope of recovery, shot himself on 30 July 1914. At his best he was a great bowler, a good bat and great hitter, the only man who had hit a ball over the pavilion at Lords, and near the wicket was one of the best fieldsmen of his time, with a sure pair of hands.

The Age, Melbourne, 10 November 1917; The Argus, Melbourne, 12 November 1917; Wisden, 1915 and 1918; personal knowledge.

TRUMBLE, HUGH (1867-1938), cricketer,

the son of William Trumble, was born at Melbourne on 12 May 1867. Educated at Hawthorn Grammar School, he entered the service of the National Bank of Australasia in 1887. He came into notice as a cricketer at the end of that year when on his first appearance for Victoria he took seven wickets for 52 runs against a strong New South Wales team. He continued to do great service as a bowler for his state until 1904 when he retired from representative cricket. His last performance was one of his greatest. In the final test match against Warner's team he took seven wickets for 28 runs including the hat trick. In test matches he took more wickets than any other bowler. In 31 matches 141 were captured for an average of 20.88. In interstate matches he took 211 wickets for an average of just over 20. He had five tours in England and took altogether 606 wickets for an average of 16.6.

After his retirement Trumble was able to attend more closely to his business and became branch manager of his bank at Kew in 1908. On 30 November 1911 he resigned this position to become secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club. He carried out his duties with conspicuous success. There had been friction between the club and the Victorian Cricket Association in the past, but Trumble realized that this was bad for the game and worked for peace. He never neglected the interests of his club, but his quiet tactfulness gradually wore down the ill-feeling that remained. He died at Melbourne on 14 August 1938. He married in 1902, Florence Christian, who survived him with six sons and two daughters. He was also survived by two brothers, the elder, J. W. Trumble, an excellent all-round international cricketer who retired early and became a well-known solicitor, and Thomas Trumble, C.M.G., C.B.E., born in 1872, who was secretary for defence 1918-27 and then official secretary to the high commissioner for Australia in London.

Trumble was six feet four in height and well-built. He was quiet in manner, with a keen sense of humour that never permitted him to become excited either on or off the field. As a cricketer he developed into a good bat with an excellent drive through the covers and he was very sure at first slip. He was a true medium-pace right-hand bowler with a good off break, an outward swing with the arm, and well concealed variation of pace. This enabled him to do some of his best performances on wickets which gave no help to the bowler, and made him one of the best bowlers in the history of the game.

The Argus and The Age, Melbourne, 15 August 1938; The Sporting Globe, Melbourne, 18 March 1939; E. E. Bean, Test Cricket in England and Australia; personal knowledge.

TRUMPER, VICTOR THOMAS (1877-1915), cricketer,

was born at Sydney, on 2 November 1877. While at the Crown-street school he showed ability as a batsman and when only 17 years old made 67 for a team of juniors against A. E. Stoddart's English team. In the 1894-5 season he played for New South Wales against South Australia, but made only 11 runs in his two innings. At his next attempt he did no better, and he was left out of representative cricket for two years. M. A. Noble (q.v.), always a good judge, was confident about his ability, but it was only after some controversy that he was made a last minute selection for the 1899 Australian team. He soon showed his ability, scoring 135 not out against England at Lords, and 300 not out against Sussex. After that his position as a great batsman became established. His most remarkable season was with the Australian team in England in 1902. It was one of the wettest summers on record, yet Trumper in 53 innings scored 2570 runs, and without a single not out, had an average of 48.49. His century before lunch at Manchester against England on a bad wicket was possibly the greatest innings ever played. His health in later seasons was at times uncertain and in some years he did not play much first-class cricket. Yet his last 68 innings, in 1910-14, gave him an average of 60. In all he played 402 innings in first-class matches for 17,150 runs at an average of just over 45. His ability as a batsman, however, cannot be valued by averages or the number of runs made. His great mastership was shown on bad wickets, for when other batsmen were struggling merely to keep their wickets intact, he was still able to time the ball and execute strokes all round the wicket. In February 1913 a match was played for his benefit between New South Wales and the rest of Australia which, with subscriptions, yielded nearly ?3000. This was placed in the hands of trustees. Trumper's health declined during 1914 and developing Bright's disease he died on 28 June 1915. He was survived by his widow, a son and a daughter.

Trumper was modest, retiring, and generous. A strict teetotaller and non-smoker, his general conduct was an example to his fellow players, and he was a great favourite with the public both in England and Australia. He was tall and slight, with great reach; the power of his strokes came from perfect timing, full arm swing and follow through. M. A. Noble had no hesitation in calling him the world's greatest batsman, a genius without compeer. He was the perfection of grace, and anyone who had seen him bat would always carry a mental picture of his carefree dancing down the pitch to convert a perfectly pitched ball into a half-volley.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 and 30 June 1915; M. A. Noble, The Game's the Thing, chapters X and XI form an admirable study of Trumper as man and cricketer; Wisden, 1916; Neville Cardus, The Sporting Globe, Melbourne, 28 September 1940; personal knowledge.

TUCKER, TUDOR ST GEORGE (1862-1906), artist,

was the son of Captain Charlton Nassau Tucker, a cavalry officer in the East India Company's service. He was born in London in 1862 and came to Melbourne in 1881. He studied at the national gallery school and afterwards at Paris. He returned to Melbourne and about the year 1893 was associated with E. Phillips Fox (q.v.) in the conduct of the Melbourne art school. He was back in London in 1899 working in a studio at Chelsea, and had two paintings in the 1900 Royal Academy exhibition, two in 1901 and one in 1902. He died in London in 1906. He suffered much from ill health and his work is comparatively little known. He did some good painting in oils which found more favour with brother artists than with the public. He is represented in the corporation art gallery at Derby, England, in the national gallery, Melbourne, and in the Warrnambool gallery.

W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden K?nstler; A. Graves, The Royal Academy Exhibitors.

TURNER, SIR GEORGE (1851-1916), premier of Victoria and Commonwealth treasurer,

son of Alfred Turner, was born in Melbourne on 8 August 1851, and was educated at the Model school and the university of Melbourne. He entered a solicitor's office as a clerk, and some years afterwards was articled and completed a course at the university. In 1881 he was admitted to practise as a solicitor and went into partnership with Samuel Lyons. He was an early member of the Australian Natives' Association. In 1886 he was elected a member of the St Kilda city council, was mayor in 1887, and in March 1889 was elected to represent St Kilda in the Victorian legislative assembly. In April 1891 he joined the Munro (q.v.) ministry as minister of health and of trades and customs, and when this ministry was merged in the Shiels (q.v.) ministry he also took over the duties of solicitor-general. In 1894 much against his own desire he was elected leader of the opposition, and in September of that year became premier and treasurer. He immediately set to work to restore the finances of Victoria by making severe economies and increasing taxation, including for the first time an income tax. By 1897 he was able to show a surplus. Probably economies were overdone, schools were starved and neglected, and the leeway had to be caught up in later years, but desperate circumstances called for desperate remedies. Turner represented Victoria at the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, was created K.C.M.G., and was made a privy councillor. Oxford gave him the honorary degree of D.C.L. and Cambridge LL.D. He remained in power until December 1899 when he was defeated by McLean (q.v.). Among the more important acts passed during his term as premier were the introduction of the credit foncier system of advances to farmers, and old age pensions. In November 1900 he again became premier and treasurer.

Turner took little part in the early days of the struggle for federation, but at the premiers' conference held at Hobart in 1895, with Kingston he prepared a draft bill for the consideration of the conference, which with amendments was eventually agreed to as "the type of bill suitable for giving effect to the resolutions of the conference". He was elected head of the poll as a representative of Victoria at the 1897 convention, but was not a member of any of the committees, and did not apparently exercise an important influence on the debates. Before the referendum of 1898 his cautious attitude of mind at first made him appear to be luke-warm in his support, but towards the close of the campaign, in a speech at St Kilda, he told his audience that if they rejected the constitution it would be a national disaster and an everlasting disgrace". When Lyne was given the task of forming the first federal ministry, Turner was invited to join it and declined. He became treasurer in Barton's ministry from January 1901 to September 1903, and in the first Deakin ministry from September 1903 to April 1904. SO little of a party man was he at this time that he was asked to accept the same position in Watson's Labour government when it succeeded Deakin's but declined it. When four months later the Reid-McLean ministry was formed Turner again held the position of treasurer. Everyone seemed to have felt that he was the "safe" man for the position. He was a good and hard-working administrator, but felt the strain of parliamentary work and had more than one illness. He became a private member when the second Deakin government came into power, but did not seek re-election in 1906, and completely retired from politics. Shortly afterwards he was appointed chairman of commissioners of the state savings bank of Victoria and held that position until his death at Melbourne on 13 August 1916. He married Miss Morgan in 1872, who survived him with one daughter.

Turner was small of stature, undistinguished-looking, modest and unassuming, he never claimed to be more than a straightforward man of business. He was not an orator, though he spoke clearly and simply, but he had tact, sincerity and shrewdness. He did most useful work for Victoria when it was struggling to recovery after the 1893 banking crisis, and in the early troubled years of the federal parliament he generally exercised a steadying influence of great value. It was unfortunate that he was compelled to retire at a comparatively early age, but he had set a good example of sound financing, and his worth was recognized by all parties.

The Cyclopaedia of Victoria, 1903; The Age and The Argus, Melbourne, 14 August 1916; W. Murdoch, Alfred Deakin; B. R. Wise, The Making of the Australian Commonwealth; H. G. Turner, The First Decade of the Australian Commonwealth; H. L. Hall, Victoria's Part in the Australian Federation Movement.

TURNER, HENRY GYLES (1831-1920), banker and historian,

was born at Kensington, London, on 12 December 1831. He was educated at the Poland-street academy and at 15 years of age was apprenticed to William Pickering, the publisher. In 1850 he joined the London joint stock bank and in September 1854 sailed for Australia, arrived in Melbourne on 4 December, and joined the staff of the Bank of Australasia. In 1865 he became accountant of this bank, and in 1870 general manager of the Commercial Bank of Australia, then a comparatively small institution. Under his management it became one of the leading banks of Australia. In the bank crisis of 1893 it suffered very heavy losses and did not recover its position for many years. There can be no doubt that there was much over-trading, and Turner was blamed for the bad state of affairs. He was, however, away in Europe on leave from February 1888 to March 1889, and it was during this period that the "boom" was at its height. He had hoped to retire at a comparatively early age, but now had to set himself to recover the lost fortunes of the bank. By 1901 the worst of its troubles were past and he was able to retire in his seventieth year.

Turner had always been interested in literature and during his banking life did a good deal of writing. In November 1875 he called a meeting of his friends at his house and, with the slender capital of ?100, a literary magazine The Melbourne Review was started. It lasted just 10 years and was not only the longest lived but the best purely Australian review that appeared in the nineteenth century. Turner was joint editor with Alexander Sutherland (q.v.) during its later years, and supplied much of the driving force. In 1898 a volume on The Development of Australian Literature, written in conjunction with Sutherland, was published, and after his retirement Turner wrote and published in 1904 his History of the Colony of Victoria in two volumes, a work of some value, not yet superseded. The First Decade of the Australian Commonwealth appeared in 1911, which was followed in 1913 by Our Own Little Rebellion, the Story of the Eureka Stockade. In 1917 when in his eighty-sixth year Turner gave a public lecture on "The War and Literature" and succeeded in completely holding the attention of his audience. He died at Melbourne on 30 November 1920. He married in September 1855 Helen Ramsay who died in 1914, without issue. His portrait by E. Phillips Fox (q.v.), is in the national gallery at Melbourne.

Apart from his historical writings Turner was a busy worker. He was at different times chairman of the associated banks, president of the chamber of commerce, president of the Shakespeare Society, president of the trustees of the public library, museums and national gallery of Victoria, and held numerous other offices in a large variety of institutions. He was tall, lean, and genial in manner, calm in judgment, and always reasonable. His critical work in connexion with literature was of doubtful value, and his historical work at times shows a conservative bias. But these things do not seriously detract from the value of the large amount of sound and careful work carried on through a long lifetime. The bulk of his estate was left to charitable institutions, his manuscripts and a large selection from his fine library went to the public library at Melbourne.

The Cyclopaedia of Victoria, 1903; The Victorian Historical Magazine, May 1921; The Book of the Public Library of Victoria, 1906-31; The Argus, Melbourne, 1 December 1920.

TWELVETREES, WILLIAM HARPER (1848-1919), geologist,

was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1848, and educated at London and in Germany. From 1871 to 1880 he was employed at copper mines in eastern Russia, and from 1882 to 1890 at the Lidjessi silver-lead mines in Asia Minor of which he was general manager from 1884. He came to Tasmania in 1890 and followed various occupations until August 1899, when he was appointed Tasmanian government geologist and chief inspector of mines. In 1914 the office of chief inspector of mines was made a separate one, but Twelvetrees continued to act as government geologist and director of the geological survey of Tasmania until his death. He worked with energy and enthusiasm and his department grew in size and importance. He also interested himself in the Launceston museum, which was extended so that the excellent geological survey collection of specimens could be housed. He died at Launceston after a short illness on 7 ,November 1919. He was married twice, (1) to Miss Austen, (2) to Miss Genders who survived him. He was awarded the Clarke medal of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1912. Much of his writing will be found in the bulletins of the Tasmanian geological survey.

Twelvetrees was a thoroughly amiable man, an excellent linguist speaking French, German and Russian fluently, and a good classical scholar. He raised his department to a high degree of efficiency, and did valuable work for the mining industry in Tasmania.

The Examiner, Launceston, 8 November 1919; The Argus, Melbourne, 8 November 1919; E. W. Skeats, David Lecture 1933, Some Founders of Australian Geology.

TYRRELL, WILLIAM (1807-1879), first Anglican bishop of Newcastle,

the youngest of 10 children of Timothy Tyrrell, Remembrancer of the City of London, was born on 31 January 1807. He was educated at the Charterhouse as a day boy, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1831 as fourth senior optime. He had intended studying law, but about the time of his father's death in 1832 he decided to enter the Church, and was ordained deacon in September 1832 and priest a year later. He was curate at Aylestone, near Leicester for about six years, was for a few months at Burnham, near Maidenhead, and in 1839 became rector of Beaulieu in Hampshire. In 1847 he was offered and accepted the position of bishop of the newly-created see of Newcastle, New South Wales. He sailed on 18 September 1847 with two clergymen, seven candidates for ordination, a schoolmaster and schoolmistress, his housekeeper, gardener and groom, with the wife and children of his gardener, 20 in all, and arrived at Sydney on 16 January 1848.

The new diocese covered an area of more than 125,000 square miles and there were only 14 clergymen. Tyrrell rode over much of it, working unceasingly, yet carefully reserving time every day for study and private devotions. He had no training college for his clergy and spent much time advising and helping the less experienced. In 1858 steps were taken to subdivide the diocese by forming the new diocese of Brisbane, and by September of that year he had arranged for the provision of ?5000 as its endowment fund. Eight years later there was another subdivision when the see of Grafton and Armidale was formed. It was suggested that Tyrrell should go to England to assist in the selection of the first bishop, but he felt that it was his duty to stay in his diocese. With advancing years he was feeling the strain of his work, and was much exercised about the future of the diocese, the provision of stipends for the clergy, their training and superannuation, and the religious instruction of the young. When he made his will, leaving everything to the diocese, he hoped there would be a large endowment for it. He had an attack of paralysis in August 1877, and died, after an operation, on 24 March 1879. He was unmarried.

Tyrrell lived for his Church and his diocese. Naturally somewhat shy and retiring, he gave the impression of being reserved or even unsympathetic. But that was not so, as he had a full appreciation of the difficulties of his clergy, and was always glad to help them with kindly advice. Fifty-five churches were built during his episcopate, and he personally contributed to the cost of every one of them. He was fond of poetry and admired greatly Wordsworth and Shakespeare, but spent so little on himself that he even denied himself books. For many years Tyrrell worked hard and eventually successfully for the establishment of diocesan and provincial synods in Australia. He did not meddle in public matters, because all his energies were required for his work. He was a man of strong will, somewhat conservative, yet prepared to face and meet all changes. When the act was passed prohibiting future grants for ministers of religion, Tyrrell at once began devising measures to provide for future stipends. The consideration of matters of this kind led to his scheme for an endowment for the diocese. He had some private means, and his wants were so few that no doubt he was able to put aside a large proportion of his stipend. The various Australian books of reference all state that he left a very large sum to the diocese, some saying that it was ?250,000 and others ?500,000. Neither amount was correct, his will was sworn at under ?41,200. When Tyrrell came to Australia he brought with him about ?20,000 as an endowment fund for the diocese. This was invested on mortgage on country lands and the mortgagor having got into difficulties, additional diocesan funds amounting to about ?12,000 were lent. Tyrrell used money of his own to purchase the mortgagor's interest in the properties, and under his will Tyrrell's interest in these and other properties was left to the diocese. The income from these properties was used for various diocesan purposes.

R. G Boodle, The Life and Labours of the Right Rev. William Tyrrell, D.D.; The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 and 26 March 1879; Year Books of the Diocese of Newcastle and Reports of the Synods, 1877-1943; information from the Registrar of the Diocese of Newcastle.

TYSON, JAMES (1823-1898), pastoralist,

was born in the Cowpasture district, New South Wales, on 11 April 1823. His father, William Tyson, who came of Cumberland stock, arrived in Sydney in 1820 and acquired a small farm. His son, after assisting his father for some time, obtained work on various stations, and joining a brother in taking up land about 1846, had little success. In 1851 he began driving cattle to the goldfields at Bendigo and opened a butcher's shop there. This was successfully conducted for about four years and Tyson then purchased a station near Deniliquin. Thenceforth his life was one of continued financial progress, and he bought many stations in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. He travelled much about Australia, but eventually made his principal home at Felton station on the Darling Downs. His wealth became a legend; it is on record that on one occasion he offered the Queensland government a loan of ?500,000 towards the cost of constructing a proposed transcontinental railway, and in 1892 in a time of depression he took up ?250,000 of treasury bills to assist the government. In 1893 he became a member of the Queensland legislative council but did not take a prominent part in its proceedings. He was found dead in his bed at Felton station on the morning of 4 December 1898.

Tyson was a big man, over 6 feet 3 inches in height. He lived frugally and disliked any discussion of his wealth. In his early years his only interest was the management of his flocks and herds; in his later days he became much interested in problems of this life and the hereafter, read many books on these subjects, and never tired of discussing them. As an employer he was exacting but severely just, and he could often be a good friend so long as his benefactions were not talked about. He was a prominent figure in the history of Queensland from about 1870 until his death, and played an important part in the development of its resources.

J. H. Heaton, Australian Dictionary of Dates; The Brisbane Courier, 5 December 1898.

ULLATHORNE, WILLIAM BERNARD (1806-1889), first Roman Catholic vicar-general of Australia, bishop of Birmingham,

was born at Pocklington, Yorkshire, on 7 May 1806. His father, William Ullathorne, was a prosperous grocer, draper and spirit merchant, his mother was originally Hannah Longstaff. Ullathorne was a direct descendent of Sir Thomas More on his father's side, his mother was a cousin of Sir John Franklin. At about nine years of age his family removed to Scarborough where he went to a school kept by a Mr Hornsey. At 12 he was taken from school and placed in his father's office to learn the management of accounts. The intention was to send him to school again, but Ullathorne was self-willed and determined to go to sea. His parents gave way and he made several voyages. While attending mass at a chapel at Memel he experienced something in the nature of a conversion, and on his return asked the mate if he had any religious books. He was given a translation of Marsollier's Life of St Jane Frances Chantal, which deepened his experience. At the end of this voyage he left the sea, returned home, and in February 1823 was sent to the Benedictine school of St Gregory's, Downside, near Bath. There he was given as his director, John Bede Polding (q.v.), afterwards the first archbishop of Sydney, who influenced him greatly. Ullathorne's ability allowed him to be pushed rapidly through the school, and he received his religious habit on 12 March 1824. He always regretted that he had not had a more thorough grounding at school, and feared that he had acquired "knowledge without due scholarship". But while still in his novitiate he read widely in the library, and studied thoroughly rhetoric, logic, mental philosophy, and the scriptures. His studies in theology followed later. He received the subdiaconate in October 1828, in September 1830 the diaconate, and was ordained priest in September 1831. Earlier in the year he had some experience in teaching boys but was not a success. In 1832 hearing that an authorized head for the Catholic clergy was needed in New South Wales he expressed his willingness to go to Australia, was appointed, and on 16 September sailed in the Sir Thomas Munro. He arrived at Sydney on 18 February 1833.

Ullathorne at this time was only 26 years of age, and almost boyish in appearance. He had been appointed vicar-general in Australia, and he was also assigned by the government a stipend of ?200 a year with an allowance of ?1 a day when travelling on duty as a Roman Catholic chaplain. Ullathorne took charge of the parish and church of St Mary's, quickly exerted his authority to close up threatened divisions among the Catholics themselves, and came to as good terms as possible with the government. He was fortunate in finding a sympathetic governor in Sir Richard Bourke (q.v.), who though not a Catholic himself, understood Ullathorne's needs and claims. It was necessary to have trustees for the church in Sydney, and Ullathorne promptly arranged with the governor that there should be three clerical and three lay trustees, held a public meeting, and by the exercise of tact succeeded in getting the most worthy men appointed. He was happy in being able to write to Bishop Morris that the church was now free from dissension. He set to work to finish St Mary's church which was opened at the end of 1833, "a really solid noble building, the finest in the colony, and more like the body of a cathedral or abbey church than a chapel" he was able to report to Bishop Morris. He found that there were only three Catholic schools, but before the end of 1835 he had succeeded in opening six more, though there were grave difficulties in finding suitable teachers. His third problem was how to bring about full religious equality and opportunity for his co-religionists. Here, though he was helped by the governor and the colonial office, he encountered many difficulties, and the battle was not won for many years. He travelled much about the country and there was no end to his work in Sydney. He became satisfied that it was necessary that a bishop should be appointed and recommended his old preceptor, John Bede Polding, for the position. Polding was appointed in May 1834, arrived at Sydney in September 1835, and in June 1836 Ullathorne sailed for Europe to urge the sending of more priests to Australia. He went to Rome and presented a report on the Australian mission, most of which will be found in the pamphlet, The Catholic Mission in Australia, published in 1837. Returning to England he preached and lectured on the same subject in both England and Ireland. His work was interrupted by a summons to give evidence before a committee of the house of commons with Sir W. Molesworth as chairman, appointed to consider the transportation question. Ullathorne had visited Norfolk Island where the system was at its worst and realized the horrors of it fully. He felt that the essential thing was that the committee should understand the effect of the system upon the minds and feelings of the prisoner, and the result in his moral habits. There can be little doubt that his evidence had much effect on the committee and also on public opinion in England. Transportation did not cease for several years, but a great blow at the system had been struck. In August 1838 Ullathorne sailed for Australia again with three priests, five ecclesiastical students and five sisters of charity, and arrived on 31 December. He was disappointed as an Englishman that it had been found impossible to spare any English priests for Australia and he was feeling the strain of his work. The evidence given before the transportation committee, and a pamphlet he had written while in England on The Horrors of Transportation, alienated many people from him in New South Wales who were anxious to obtain the cheap labour provided by convicts. His chief comfort was that Judge Therry (q.v.), who knew much of the system from practical experience, declared that everything he had said was true. He was also of a different temperament from Polding who was weakest where Ullathorne was strongest, and the latter was chafed by finding the finances out of order and official correspondence neglected. The question was patched up for a time by the vicar-general undertaking the business duties of the diocese. Ullathorne also had to spare time for controversy arising out of an endeavour of the Church of England to secure the position of the established church in Australia. In December 1839, however, he found things generally were in a more prosperous state and decided to retire, though his departure did not take place until the end of 1840. In September of that year he published his Reply to Judge Burton, the most important of his Australian publications. Burton (q.v.) had published a book, The State of Religion and Education in New South Wales, and had stated, "It will not, it is assumed, be denied, that by the law of England, the Church of England has been, and is established as the national church. . . . And as such was by force of law, before the statute 9th Geo. 4 C 83, and by the express terms of the statute, the established church of the colony." That statement and the inferences drawn from it were vigorously and successfully assailed by Ullathorne. He also succeeded in his opposition to a bill introduced into the legislative council providing that a census should be taken recording which families had come out as free settlers and which as convicts, and he issued a warning note, unheeded at the time, about the undue speculation in land then taking place in Sydney. He had been glad to take the brunt of controversy from kindly Bishop Polding's shoulders, but he could not but be conscious of the feelings of his opponents against him. In later years he realized it was a good training in the value of public opinion. He made his final farewell to Australia on 16 November 1840. After his return to England Ullathorne refused the offer of a bishopric in Australia four times. He conducted a successful mission at Coventry, and in June 1846 was consecrated bishop of Hetalona and vicar apostolic of the western district of Great Britain. He established himself at Bristol, but was there for only two years. Early in 1848 he was deputed to go to Rome to press the question of the setting up of the Catholic hierarchy in England. He carried out his mission with tact and ability. Everything was on the way to success when he left Rome, but the breaking out of the revolution and the flight of Pius IX to Gaeta delayed the question for two years more. In 1848 Ullathorne was transferred to the central district and removed to Birmingham where he began his long friendship with Newman. In September 1850, with the establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England, he was appointed bishop of Birmingham. He began his episcopate of nearly 40 years in a period of heated controversy both with external forces and among the English Catholics themselves. The diocese was heavily in debt and it was not until nearly the end of his life that it was established on a solid financial basis. He was a great worker and in 1857, 1858, and 1859 had to rest and recuperate his overtaxed energies. In the early eighteen-sixties the state of Cardinal Wiseman's health threw even more work on Ullathorne, now looked upon as one of the greatest leaders of his faith in England. A strong effort was made to have Ullathorne appointed Wiseman's coadjutor with the right of succession at Westminster, but Wiseman was so much opposed to this that although Ullathorne was unanimously chosen by propaganda for recommendation to the Pope, eventually Manning was chosen. He had supported Ullathorne's claims, and his conduct, and Ullathorne's also during the whole trying business, was beyond praise.

Ullathorne continued to lead a busy life until in 1879, at the age of 73, he found that his health was no longer equal to the strain. An auxiliary bishop was appointed and Ullathorne continued to be bishop of Birmingham until 1888. On his retirement he was made archbishop of Cabasa. He died on 21 March 1889 and was buried in the chapel of Stone convent. In addition to works already mentioned he was the author of A Sermon Against Drunkenness, (1834), reprinted numberless times, Ecclesiastical Discourses (1876), The Endowments of Man (1880), The Groundwork of the Christian Virtues (1882), Christian Patience (1886), Memoir of Bishop Willson (1887). A collection of Characteristics from the Writings of Archbishop Ullathorne was published in 1889, and The Autobiography of Archbishop Ullathorne, 2 vols, in 1891-2. Many other controversial writings and addresses were printed and will be found listed in the British Museum catalogue.

Ullathorne was a great prelate and a great man. He was thoroughly straightforward and businesslike as an administrator; if he saw anything needed doing it had to be done at once. Men of this stamp are not usually over-tactful, and Ullathorne was often in the thick of the combat in his own church and outside it. He exercised a great influence in his time and has been spoken of with Wiseman, Manning and Newman, as one of the four great English Catholics of his period.

Dom. Cuthbert Butler, The Life and Times of Bishop Ullathorne; The Autobiography of Archbishop Ullathorne; Ed. by Shane Leslie, From Cabin-boy to Archbishop, The Autobiography of Archbishop Ullathorne printed from the original draft; The Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. XV; H. N. Birt, Benedictine Pioneers in Australia; Letters of Archbishop Ullathorne.

VAN RAALTE, HENRI BENEDICTUS. See RAALTE, HENRI BENEDICTUS VAN.

VAUGHAN, ROGER WILLIAM BEDE (1834-1883), Roman Catholic archbishop of Sydney,

was born near Ross, Herefordshire, on 9 January 1834. His father, Colonel John Francis Vaughan, belonged to one of the oldest county families in England, his mother was Elizabeth Louise, daughter of John Rolls of Monmouthshire. At the age of six Vaughan was sent to a boarding-school at Monmouth for three years, but his health proved to be delicate and for some years he was privately tutored at home. In September 1850 he was sent to the Benedictine school of St Gregory's at Downside near Bath. In September 1853 he entered the Benedictine community, and in 1855 went to Rome for further study, and remained there for four years. He had taken minor orders in 1855, and passing through the various stages he was ordained priest on 9 April 1859. He returned to Downside in August, in 1861 was appointed professor of metaphysics and moral philosophy at Belmont, and a year later was elected prior of the diocesan chapter of Newport and Menevia and superior of Belmont. He held this position for over 10 years. He contributed to leading reviews and published his most important literary work, his Life of St Thomas of Aquin, on which he had spent endless pains, in 1871-2. In 1866 he met Archbishop Polding (q.v.), then on a visit to England, who was much attracted to Vaughan and several times asked that he might be made his coadjutor. It was not, however, until February 1873 that this was agreed to. Vaughan arrived at Sydney on 16 December 1873 and immediately devoted himself to two important movements, the provision of education for Catholic children and the completion of the building of St Mary's cathedral. He lived very simply at the College of St John, Sydney university; it has been recorded that his sitting-room had no carpet, and he made few personal friends. This is not to suggest that he was in any way unpopular, rather the reverse, for in all his visitations in the country he was received with enthusiasm by both the clergy and the laity. He became a doughty fighter in the controversies that raged during his period, and in 1876 came into conflict with the Freemasons in connexion with an address delivered on 9 October on opening the Catholic guild hall at Sydney, and published under the title Hidden Springs. Other publications included Christ and His Kingdom (1878), and two series of Lenten lectures Arguments for Christianity (1879) and Christ's Divinity (1882). He had become archbishop of Sydney on the death of Archbishop Polding, on 16 March 1877. He then resigned the rectorship of St John's College which he had taken over in 1874, but his interest in this college never flagged. He spoke vigorously on the education question, but his words had little effect on parliament. In 1880 Parkes (q.v.) passed an education act under which government aid to denominational education ceased at the end of 1882. Vaughan's views on this question may be found in his Pastorals and Speeches on Education, which appeared in Sydney in 1880. He worked hard for the building fund of the cathedral and himself sent out some 3000 letters asking for donations. By 1882 a portion was completed and temporarily roofed so that it was possible to hold service in it. After its opening, on 8 September, Vaughan made a visitation of the diocese, and on 19 April 1883 sailed on a visit to Europe. He went by way of America, arrived at Liverpool on 16 August, and two days later died in his sleep at Ince-Blundell Hall, the residence of his aunt. The administrator of the diocese sent a cable requesting that the archbishop should be buried at Sydney, but difficulties arose and after the body had been placed in the family vault at Ince-Blundell it was transferred to the church of St Michael at Belmont some years later. In addition to works already mentioned a collection of his Occasional Addresses was published in 1881, and other addresses were published separately.

Vaughan was a tall and commanding figure with a handsome and winning face. A somewhat solitary man whose work was his life, he did valuable work in organizing the finances of the diocese, extending educational facilities, and raising the money for the cathedral. Though scholarly and somewhat austere, his preaching attracted large congregations including many not of his own faith. He was still under 50 when he died, but he had suffered from a life-long weakness of the heart, and was really worn out at the time of his death. If he had been granted health and length of days there is scarcely any limit to what he might have attained.

H. N. Birt, Benedictine Pioneers in Australia; P. F. Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australasia; The Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. XIV; The Most Rev. Roger Bede Vaughan . . . Life and Labours, Sydney, 1883.

VERBRUGGHEN, HENRI (1873-1934), musician,

son of Henri and Elisa Derode Verbrugghen, was born at Brussels, Belgium, on 1 August 1873. He made his first appearance as a violinist when only eight years old, and was a successful student at the Brussels conservatorium under Hubay and Ysaye, winning many prizes. He visited England with Ysaye in 1888, and in 1893 settled in Scotland as a member of the Scottish orchestra. During the summer he led the orchestra at Llandudno under Jules Riviere. For a time he was a member of the Lamoureux orchestra at Paris and then for three years was deputy-conductor at Llandudno. He was director of music for four years at Colwyn Bay, and then returned to the Scottish orchestra. In 1902 he became leader and deputy-conductor under (Sir) Frederic Cowen, and during the promenade season led the Queen's Hall orchestra for three years. He became chief violin professor at the Athenaeum, Glasgow, and in 1911 succeeded Dr Coward as conductor of the Glasgow Choral Union. In April 1914 he enhanced his growing reputation when a Beethoven festival was held at London, Verbrugghen "conducting throughout the festival with insight and masterly ability" (The Musical Times, 1 June 1914, p. 399). Early in 1915 he was appointed director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium at a salary of ?1250 a year.

Verbrugghen arrived in Sydney in the same year full of enthusiasm. He had a great admiration for English people but did not like the methods of their schools of music, and decided that the conservatorium at Sydney should be based on continental models. He got together a remarkably fine orchestra, including the other members of his excellent string quartet who had come with him. For six years Verbrugghen's influence on the musical life of Sydney was of outstanding importance, but the politicians had not realized that it is impossible to carry on work of this nature without financial loss. The orchestra was disbanded in 1921 and Verbrugghen, who had suffered much from worry, went to America for health reasons. In 1922 he was a guest conductor of the Minneapolis symphony orchestra, and had such a brilliant success that he was given the position of permanent conductor. Efforts were made in Australia to persuade him to return without success. In 1931 he collapsed at a rehearsal of his orchestra, and never completely recovered his health. From September 1933 he was chairman of the department of music at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, U.S.A., and he died at Northfield on 12 November 1934. He married Alice Gordon Beaumont who survived him with three sons and a daughter.

The Musical Times, London, June 1914, with an interesting statement of his methods as a conductor, pp. 369-70; The Australian Musical News, December 1934; The New York Times, 13 November 1934; The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 1934; The Argus, Melbourne, 14 November 1934; Who's Who in America, 1934-5.

VERCO, SIR JOSEPH COOKE (1851-1933), physician and conchologist,

son of James Crabb Verco, was born at Fullarton, South Australia, on 1 August 1851. Both his parents came from Cornwall, England. He was educated at the school of J. L. Young, an outstanding teacher at Adelaide, and after spending a year in the South Australian railway department intending to become a civil engineer he decided to take up medicine. As he wished to matriculate at the university of London he found it necessary to do more work in classics, and spent a year at St Peter's College for this purpose. At this school he won the Young exhibition, awarded to the best scholar of the year, and then went to London at the beginning of 1870. He obtained his M.R.C.S. in 1874, M.B. London in 1875, with scholarship and the gold medals for forensic medicine and medicine; L.R.C.P. in 1875; B.S. London, with scholarship and gold medal, M.D., London, and F.R.C.S. all in 1876. Verco was one of the most brilliant students of his time and a successful career in London was open to him. He was appointed house physician at St Bartholomew's hospital in 1876 and in 1877 midwifery assistant, but in the following year returned to Adelaide.

After a few years of general practice at Adelaide Verco became recognized at its leading physician, and led a very busy life. From 1882 to 1912 he was honorary physician to the Adelaide hospital and then honorary consulting physician. He was for several years honorary physician to the Adelaide Children's hospital. He was lecturer in medicine at the university of Adelaide from 1887 to 1915, dean of the faculty of medicine 1919-21, and subsequently dean of the faculty of dentistry. He was a member of the council of the university from 1895 to 1902 and 1919 to 1933. He was president of the South Australian branch of the British Medical Association in 1886-7 and 1914-19. For some years before his retirement from practice in 1919, he specialized in consultative work as a physician. He did not do much writing on medical subjects, but with E. C. Stirling (q.v.) wrote the article on hydatid disease in Allbutt's System of Medicine. "This not only collated the early literature, but was illuminated by the authors' personal experience of cases and at the time was recognized as a classic presentation of the subject" (British Medical Journal, 12 August 1933, p. 317). Quite early in his career, as president of the inter-colonial medical congress at Adelaide in 1887, Verco had delivered an address dealing mainly with the reaction of the Australian environment on the descendants of Europeans which attracted much notice.

Verco's interest in science was not confined to its medical side. He was elected a fellow of the Adelaide Philosophical Society, afterwards the Royal Society of South Australia in 1878. From a lad he had been interested in shells and he began his serious study of this subject in 1887. He did a large amount of dredging in the Great Australian Bight of much value to marine biology. His own collection of shells became a very fine one, and he had an excellent and valuable library of literature on the subject. This collection, including the books, was eventually presented to the South Australian museum, where Verco spent much time after his retirement as honorary conchologist. His general interest in the Royal Society was very great and he was an admirable president. First elected to that office in 1903 he was re-elected year by year until 1921 when he declined further nomination. But as vice-president or member of the council his connexion was maintained until his death on 29 July 1933. He started its research and endowment fund with the sum of ?1000 in 1908, and on several other occasions gave financial aid when it was required. He was knighted in 1919. He married in 1911 Mary Isabella, daughter of Samuel Mills, who survived him. There were no children. A list of Verco's papers was published in the South Australian Naturalist for August 1933, and a list of the names of species of animals named after him will be found in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia for 1933, p. VIII. In 1926 Verco gave ?5000 to the university of Adelaide for the publication of results of researches in medical science, and under his will his considerable estate, subject to the life interest of his widow, was to be divided among philanthropic, religious, and scientific bodies.

Transactions and Proceedings Royal Society of South Australia, 1933; The Advertiser, Adelaide, 31 July 1933; The British Medical Journal, 1933, p. 317; The Lancet, 1933, p. 386; Burke's Peerage, etc., 1933.

VERDON, SIR GEORGE FREDERIC (1834-1896), politician and public man,

son of the Rev. Edward Verdon, was born at Bury, Lancaster, England, on 21 January 1834. He was educated at Rossall School, and when 17 years of age emigrated to Melbourne. Obtaining a position in the office of Grice Sumner and Company he afterwards went into business at Williamstown, and began his public career as a member of the local municipal council. He was chairman of a conference of municipal delegates and soon afterwards published in 1858 a pamphlet on The Present and Future of Municipal Government in Victoria. He was elected a member of the legislative assembly for Williamstown in 1859, and in November 1860 joined the Heales (q.v.) ministry as treasurer. He resigned with the ministry in November 1861 but in June 1863 became treasurer in the McCulloch (q.v.) ministry which remained in office until May 1868. During the parliamentary recess in 1866 Verdon was sent to England to bring the question of the defences of Victoria before the English authorities. He succeeded in obtaining ?100,000 towards the cost of a warship, the Cerberus, and the Nelson was given to Victoria as a training-ship. Verdon also floated a loan for public works, and obtained sanction for the establishment of a branch of the royal mint at Melbourne. After his return he suggested the advisability of the colony having a representative in London, and in 1868 the office of agent-general was created, and Verdon was appointed to the position for a period of four years. He made a most favourable impression in London, he had been given the companionship of the bath in 1866, and in 1872 he was created K.C.M.G. He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1870. On his giving up the agent-generalship he accepted the position of colonial inspector and general manager of the English Scottish and Australian Chartered Bank, Melbourne.

Up to this period Verdon had had a remarkable career. To have been treasurer of Victoria at the age of 26, its London representative at 34, a fellow of the Royal Society at 36, and K.C.M.G. at 38 suggests that as a young man he must have had extraordinary ability and personality. Important as his new position was one can scarcely escape a suggestion of anti-climax. He held it for 19 years, and retired on account of ill-health in April 1891. He was interested in science, art and literature, as a young man he had been an honorary assistant in the Melbourne observatory, and when treasurer he saw that it was properly equipped; he collected objects of art, and became a trustee of the public library, museums and national gallery of Victoria in 1872, was elected vice-president in 1880, and president in 1883. He held this position until his death and showed much interest in the various collections. He died at Melbourne on 13 September 1896. He married in 1861 Annie, daughter of John Armstrong, who died in 1889, and was survived by three sons.

Burke's Colonial Gentry, 1891; The Argus, Melbourne, 14 September 1896; P. Mennell, The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; E. La T. Armstrong, The Book of the Public Library, 1856-1906.

VERNON, HOWARD (1845-1921), actor,

was born in Collins-street, Melbourne, in 1845. His name was originally J. Lett. He developed a pleasing light tenor voice and joined an opera company which went to India. There he organized a company of his own, which went to China and in 1877 to Japan, where he was one of the earliest actors of European birth to appear on the Japanese stage. He visited England and played Ange Pitou in La Fille de Madame Anaot, and Fritz in La Grande Duchesse, with the Alice May company. Vernon then crossed to America and played with Emilie Melville at San Francisco. He returned to Australia and took parts in light operas such as Gaspard in La Cloches de Corneville, and Pippo in La Mascotte. His reputation was, however, not fully established until he began to play in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. From 1881 when he took the part of Bunthorne in Patience to 1890 when he was Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers, Vernon was in each Gilbert and Sullivan production in Australia, in most cases creating his part, and playing in revivals in later years. His Ko Ko in The Mikado was his masterpiece, but he was excellent in everything. His singing voice deteriorated as he grew older, but his rendering of patter songs was very good, his diction was admirably clear, and his dry humour was used with such artistic restraint that he never seemed to be out of the picture. After a retirement he played King Paramount in Utopia Ltd in 1906, and afterwards travelled with a company in New Zealand and played for some years in Great Britain. He returned to Australia in 1914 and retired from the stage. In 1920 he was given a benefit, and he died at Melbourne on 26 July 1921. He left a widow, Vinia de Loitte, a singer of ability, two sons and two daughters by an earlier marriage.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 1921; The Argus and The Age, Melbourne, 27 July 1921; Vinia de Loitte, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera in Australia; personal knowledge.

VERRAN, JOHN (1856-1932), premier of South Australia,

was born at Gwennap, Cornwall, England, on 9 July 1856 and when only three months old was taken by his parents to Australia. The family lived at Kapunda, South Australia, until he was eight, and then moved to Moonta. Verran received very little education and before he was 10 years old was working at the copper-mines. He attended a night school some years later. When 18 he went to the Queensland gold-mines but soon returned to Moonta, where he worked as a miner for nearly 40 years. He was elected president of the Moonta miners' association and held this office for 15 years. In 1901 he was elected a member of the South Australian house of assembly for Wallaroo, and on the death of Price (q.v.) in 1909 became leader of the Labour party. On 3 June 1910 he became premier in the first South Australian purely Labour government. He was also commissioner of public works and minister of mines and of water-supply. His ministry was defeated in 1912. He was succeeded as leader of the Labour party by Crawford Vaughan in 1913, and he broke with that party in 1917 over the conscription issue. In 1918 he stood as a Nationalist candidate and was defeated, and he was also defeated at the federal election held in 1925. In 1927 he was elected by the South Australian parliament to fill the vacancy in the federal senate caused by the death of Senator McHugh. He lost his seat in 1928 and henceforth lived in retirement. He died on 7 June 1932. His wife predeceased him and he was survived by three sons and four daughters. Verran was a man of fine character whose honesty was proverbial. For many years he was a power in the Labour ranks, but his career really ended when he left the party.

The Advertiser, Adelaide, 8 and 10 June 1932.

VIDAL, MARY THERESA (1815-1869), early novelist,

daughter of William Johnson and his wife, Mary Theresa, daughter of P. W. Furse, was born in 1815. She was a sister of William Johnson, author of Ionica, who took the name of Cory in 1872. She married the Rev. Francis Vidal and came to Australia in 1840. Her husband had an extensive parish to the south-west of Sydney. In 1845 her first book Tales for the Bush was published at Sydney, and soon afterwards she returned with her husband to England. Ten other volumes of tales and novels were published between 1846 and 1866 in which the author sometimes made use of her experiences in Australia. Some of these books ran into more than one edition. She died in 1869, and was survived by her husband, four sons and a daughter (E. Morris Miller, The Australasian Book News, March 1947, and the Eton Register).

Mrs Vidal's stories are almost unprocurable in Australia. They appear to have been of an improving character and to have been not without merit. She may be called the first Australian woman novelist.

Information from H. M. Green who got in touch with one of Mrs Vidal's descendants; E. Morris Miller, Australian Literature.

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