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NATHAN, ISAAC (1790-1864), musician,

was born at Canterbury, England, in 1790. He was intended forthe Jewish ministry and was sent to Cambridge university tocontinue the study of Hebrew. His love of music, however, was sogreat that his parents allowed him to give up his course and studyunder Domenico Corri, a well-known musician of the time. He wasintroduced to Byron the poet by the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, andwrote the music for his "Hebrew Melodies". In 1816 when Byron leftEngland he gave Nathan £50 (Byron's Letters, vol. III,Murray's 1899 Ed., p. 283, note). In 1823 Nathan publishedAnEssay on the History and Theory of Music, which brought himunder the notice of George IV who appointed him musical historianand instructor in music to the Princess Charlotte. He wrote severalsongs, some of which were successful, and appeared at Covent Gardenas a singer, but his voice was not strong enough for so large atheatre. His comedy with songs,Sweethearts and Wives, wasplayed at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in 1823, a comic opera,The Alcaid, on 10 August 1824, and in 1827 an operaticfarce,The Illustrious Stranger, was produced at DruryLane.

In 1829 Nathan brought outFugitive Pieces and Reminiscencesof Lord Byron, in 1836 appearedMemoirs of Madame Malibrande Beriot, and about this period he undertook some work of asecret nature for William IV. Nathan was promised "consideration,protection and indemnity from his Majesty's Ministers", but when hesubsequently put in a claim for £2,326 he was unable to recovermore than the odd £326. He consequently became financiallyembarrassed, and about the end of 1840 emigrated to Australia.Landing first at Melbourne he went on to Sydney and became wellknown there as a musician and conductor. On 7 May 1847 hisDonJohn of Austria, the first opera to be written, composed andproduced in Australia, was performed at the Victoria theatre,Sydney. He also established a high reputation as a teacher. Hepublished in 1846The First, Second and Third of a Series ofLectures on the Theory and Practice of Music, and, probablyearly in 1849,The Southern Euphrosyne and AustralianMiscellany. This has sometimes been dated 1848, but a note onthe last leaf shows that the book could not have been issued untilafter the news of the death of Lord Melbourne had reached Sydney.Nathan had done a useful piece of work in recording some of thesongs of the aborigines, which, put into modern rhythm andharmonized, are printed in this volume. He continued in high reputeas a musician and teacher until he was accidentally killed whenalighting from a tram on 15 January 1864. He married (1) ElizabethRosetta Worthington and (2) Henrietta Buckley. He was survived bysons and daughters. One of his sons, Dr Charles Nathan, was awell-known Sydney surgeon.

C. H. Bertie,Isaac Nathan, Australia's FirstComposer; J. H. Heaton,Australian Dictionary of Dates;The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 and 21 January 1864;Notesand Queries, 11th series, vol. IX, pp. 71, 197; I. Nathan,The Southern Euphrosyne, pp. 161-7; Olga Somech Phillips,Isaac Nathan Friend of Byron.

NEILSON, JOHN SHAW (1872-1942), poet,

was born at Penola, South Australia, on 22 February 1872. He wasof purely Scottish ancestry, his grandparents were John Neilson andJessie MacFarlane of Cupar, Neil Mackinnon of Skye, and MargaretStuart of Greenock. His mother, Margaret MacKinnon, was born atDartmoor, Victoria, his father, John Neilson, at Stranraer,Scotland, in 1844. John Neilson was brought to South Australia atnine years of age, had practically no education and was shepherd,shearer, and small farmer all his life. He never had enough moneyto get good land, like other pioneers he fought drought and rabbitsand other pests, and he received little reward for his labours. Hedied in 1922 having lived just long enough to see his son acceptedas an Australian poet. He himself had written verses; one song,"Waiting for the Rain", was popular in the shearing sheds, and inJanuary 1893 he wrote the senior prize poem, "The Pioneers", forthe literary competition held by the Australian NativesAssociation. In 1938 a small collection of his poems,The Men ofthe Fifties, was published by the Hawthorn Press atMelbourne.

His son, John Shaw Neilson, had little more education than hisfather. When about eight years old he was for 15 months at thestate school at Penola, but he had to leave when in 1881 the familyremoved to Minimay in the south-west Wimmera, Victoria. There wasno school at Minimay then, but four years later one was opened andNeilson attended for another 15 months. There was, however, a Bibleand a tattered copy of Burns's poems in the house, and when at theage of 15 a copy of Hood's poems came in his way, Neilson read themall with great joy. Driven out by drought Neilson's father took hisfamily to Nhill in 1889, and was employed as a farm worker and onthe roads. His son soon after began to write verses of which someappeared in the local press and one in theAustralasian,Melbourne. In January 1893 he won the junior prize for a poem atthe Australian Natives Association's competition, in the same yearthat his father won the senior prize with a better poem. In 1895 hewent with his father to Sea Lake, and about a, year later had someverses accepted by theBulletin, Sydney. But his healthbroke down and he did little writing for about four years. He wascontributing to theBulletin between 1901 and 1906, andabout 1908 some of his verses, mostly of a light or popular kind,were accepted byBedford (q.v.) for theClarion. From about 1906 Neilson's sight began to fail, forthe rest of his life he was able to do little reading, and most ofhis work was dictated. When theBookfellow was revived in1911 Neilson was a contributor, andA. G. Stephens (q.v.) theeditor, began collecting the best of his poems, intending to issuethem in a volume under the title ofGreen Days and Cherries;Fred John's Annual for 1913 included Neilson as the authorof this volume. It was, however, delayed, the war delayed itfurther, and it was not issued until 1919, when the titleHeartof Spring was adopted. It had a too laudatory preface byStephens which stated that some of the work was "unsurpassed in therange of English lyrics". In spite of this it was well received,and in 1923, with the help of Mrs Louise Dyer, another volume,Ballad and Lyrical Poems, was published. This includednearly all the work in the first volume with some 20 additionallyrics. About this time Neilson visited Melbourne and met many ofthe literary people of the period. Now in his fifties and not avery robust man he was beginning to feel the strain of physicalwork. "I don't mind some kinds of pick and shovel work," he said tothe present writer, "but when 1 have to throw heavy stuff over myshoulder it gives me rather a wrench." Stephens in 1925 and againin 1926 suggested in newspaper articles that more suitableemployment should be found for him. The difficulty was thatNeilson's poor eyesight unfitted him for most kinds of work. Amovement was, however, started in Melbourne, he was granted a smallliterary pension, and eventually in 1928 a position was found forhim as an attendant in the office of the Victorian country roadsboard. This office was in the Exhibition gardens, Melbourne, and inthese pleasant surroundings Neilson spent his days until near theend of his life. A volume,New Poems, was published in 1927,and in 1934 hisCollected Poems appeared. Four years lateranother small volume was published,Beauty Imposes. Neilsonretired from the country roads board early in 1941, and went toQueensland to stay with friends. His literary pension was nowincreased to £2 a week. Soon after his return to Melbourne hishealth began to fail, and he died at a private hospital on 12 May1942. He was buried in the Footscray cemetery near Melbourne. Henever married.

Neilson was a slender man of medium height with a face thatsuggested his kindliness, refinement and innate beauty ofcharacter. He was glad to have his work appreciated, but it neveraffected his simplicity and modesty. He was slow in developing,perhaps as Stephens said, he had to learn the words with which toexpress himself. There is little suggestion of an intellectualbackground to his work, but the range of his emotions isbeautifully expressed with apparently unconscious artistry, inphrases that often have the touch of magic that marks the truepoet.

Autobiographical details dictated by Neilson: R. H.Croll, Introduction toCollected Poems; A. G. Stephens,The Australasian, 26 December 1925;The AustralianWorker, 22 December 1926;The Argus, Melbourne, 13 May1942; Biographical note,The Men of the Fifties;PrizePoems, Australian Natives' National Fete, 1893;John ShawNeilson: A Memorial; James Devaney,Shaw Neilson;personal knowledge.

NELSON, SIR HUGH MUIR (1835-1906), premier of Queensland,

was born at Kilmarnock, Scotland, on 31 December 1835. Hisfather, Dr William Lambie Nelson, was elected to the firstQueensland parliament in 1860 but was unseated because he was aminister of religion. The boy was educated at the Edinburgh highschool, and began a promising course under Sir William Hamilton atEdinburgh university. This was cut short when he went with hisfather to Queensland in 1853 and settled at Ipswich. Nelsonobtained a position in a mercantile house, and then took up apastoral life about six miles out of Ipswich. He then went to theDarling Downs to manage a station, and in 1870 married Janet,daughter of Duncan McIntyre. He afterwards took up Loudon stationin the Dalby district and in 1880, when the divisional boards actcame in, he was elected a member of the Wambo board. His strongpersonality and cultivated intellect soon led to his beingappointed chairman of the board. He was elected to the legislativeassembly for Northern Downs in 1883, and after the 1887redistribution of seats, he was member for Murilla. In June 1888 hebecame secretary for railways in theMcIlwraith (q.v.) ministry andheld the same position whenB. D. Morehead (q.v.)succeeded McIlwraith. WhenGriffith (q.v.) became premier,Nelson was elected leader of the opposition, but when Griffithresigned in March 1893 to become chief justice, Nelson formed acoalition with McIlwraith taking the portfolios of treasurer andvice-president of the executive council. In October he becamepremier in a ministry which lasted four and a half years, for thelast three years of which he was also chief secretary. Nelson didmost valuable work as treasurer during the depression whichfollowed the financial crisis of 1893. When the T. J. Byrnesministry came in in April 1898 Nelson became president of thelegislative council, and in 1903 lieutenant-governor, for both ofwhich positions his fine appearance, tact and grace of mannereminently fitted him. He died at Toowoomba on 1 January 1906 andwas survived by Lady Nelson, two sons and three daughters. He wascreated K.C.M.G. in 1896 and was appointed to the privy council atthe time of his visit to England during the diamond jubileecelebrations in 1897.

Nelson had an intimate knowledge of men, and was an excellentparliamentarian with a good grasp of constitutional matters and akeen understanding of financial questions. His genial nature madehim personally popular and though scarcely an orator, his practicalcommon sense always made him worthy of attention. He was opposedboth to the separation movement in Queensland and to federation. Heshowed himself to be a strong man during the shearers' strike of1894, but his best work was done as treasurer when he led thecolony out of a state of financial chaos.

The Brisbane Courier, 2 January, 1906;Who'sWho, 1906; C. A. Bernays,Queensland Politics During SixtyYears.

NERLI, MARCHESE GEROLAMO BALLATTI (1863-1926), artist,

was born at Siena, Italy, in 1863. On his father's side hebelonged to an old Italian family, his mother was the daughter ofThomas Medwin, a distant relative of Shelley and author ofJournal of the Conversations of Lord Byron and ofTheLife of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Nerli came to Melbourne in 1886and subsequently practised as an artist in Victoria, New SouthWales, and New Zealand, where for a time he was director of an artschool at Dunedin. In 1888 his portrait of Myra Kemble the actressattracted much attention at the exhibition of the Royal Art Societyat Sydney. In August 1892 he visited Samoa and painted thewell-known portrait of R. L. Stevenson, now the property of thecity of Edinburgh. A replica is in the Scottish national portraitgallery. A portrait in pastel done during the same visit was boughtby Scribner and Sons, New York, in 1923. Nerli returned to Europeand continued his work with some success. He died in Switzerland in1926. He married Cecilia Barron in New Zealand who survivedhim.

Nerli was a capable artist with a vigorous style. Examples ofhis work will be found in the Sydney, Wellington, Christchurch andDunedin galleries.

W. Moore,The Story of Australian Art, which ispractically the only authority. References to Nerli will be foundinVailima Letters and in various writings aboutStevenson.

NEUMAYER, GEORGE BALTHASAR VON (1826-1909), hydrographer and meteorologist,

was born at Kirchenbolanden, Bavaria, on 21 June 1826. Hestudied at Munich university, took his Ph.D. degree in 1849, andbecoming much interested in polar exploration, continued hisstudies in terrestrial magnetism, oceanography, navigation, andnautical astronomy. To obtain practical experience he made a voyageto South America, and after his return gave a series of lectures atHamburg on Maury's theories of the ocean, and recent improvementsin navigation. He then decided to go to Australia, shipped as asailor before the mast, and arrived at Sydney in 1852. After tryinghis fortune on the goldfields, he gave lectures on navigation toseamen, and spent some time in Tasmania at the observatory inHobart. He returned to Germany in 1854 convinced that Australiaoffered a great field for scientific exploration, obtained thesupport of the King of Bavaria and encouragement from leadingBritish scientists. He sailed again for Australia and arrived inMelbourne in January 1857. He asked the government of Victoria toprovide him with a site for an observatory, about £700 for abuilding, and about £600 a year for expenses. He had brought withhim a collection of magnetical, nautical and meteorologicalinstruments valued at £2000, which had been provided by the King ofBavaria. Neumayer suggested as a suitable site a block of land notfar from the present position of the observatory, but this was notgranted. He was, however, allowed the use of the buildings of thesignal station on Flagstaff Hill, where from 1 March 1858 hecarried on the systematic registration of meteorological andnautical facts. A few weeks later he added regular observations onatmospheric electricity and changes in the magnetic elements. Hepublished in 1860,Results of the Magnetical, Nautical andMeteorological Observations from March 1858 to February 1859,and did a large amount of travelling in Victoria in connexion withhis magnetic survey of the colony. He published hisResults ofthe Meteorological Observations 1859-1862 and Nautical Observations1858-1862 in 1864, and in the same year returned to Germany. In1867 he brought out hisDiscussion of the Meteorological andMagnetical Observations made at the Flagstaff Observatory, andin 1869 appeared his extremely valuableResults of the MagneticSurvey of the Colony of Victoria--1858-1864. He established ahigh reputation in Germany in geophysics, in 1872 becamehydrographer to the German admiralty, and from 1876 to 1903 wasdirector of the Oceanic observatory at Hamburg. All his life heretained his interest in polar exploration and in 1901 publishedAuf zum Südpol; 45 Jahre Wirkens zur Förderung der Erforschungder Südpolar-Region 1855-1900. He died on 24 May 1909 atNeustadt.

Neumayer was completely devoted to science. His interest in theexploration of the south polar regions led to very valuable work inVictoria, and in Germany his observatory at Hamburg established aremarkable reputation, both for its practical help to seafarers,and for its training of scientific men.

Rev. C. Stuart Ross,The Victorian HistoricalMagazine, March, 1918;Meyers Lexikon, vol. 8; H. R.Mill,The Siege of the South Pole, pp. 339-42;FirstAnnual Report of the Astronomical and Magnetical Observatories;Victorian Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 3, 1860-1; Neumayer'sworks. References will also be found in R. Amundsen'sThe SouthPole and Capt. R. F. Scott'sThe Voyage of theDiscovery.

NEWBURY, ALBERT ERNEST (1891-1941), artist,

was born at Melbourne on 29 January 1891. He spent most of hischildhood at Geelong and at 18 entered the national gallery schoolat Melbourne, where he studied underF. McCubbin (q.v.) andL. Bernard Hall (q.v.). He won,the Ramsay prize for portrait-painting while a student in 1913, histwo pictures being placed first and second. In 1916 he studiedunder Max Meldrum whose theories had much influence on his work. Heheld a joint exhibition with R. McCann in 1917, and graduallyestablished a reputation among those art-lovers who couldappreciate the sincerity, simplicity and spaciousness of his work.Most of his paintings were landscapes, but he also did some verysuccessful portraits. After the death of W. B . McInnes in 1939 andthe appointment of Charles Wheeler as master of the painting schoolat the national gallery, Melbourne, Newbury was made master in theschool of drawing. He, however, became ill soon afterwards and diedat Eltham near Melbourne on 1 April 1941. He married Ruth Trumblewho survived him with one son. He is represented in the galleriesat Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Ballarat, Geelong, and atCanberra.

W. Moore,The Story of Australian Art; C.Hampel,The Paintings of A. E. Newbury;The Argus,Melbourne, 2 April 1941.

NEWLAND, SIMPSON (1835-1925), pioneer and author,

was born at Hanley, Staffordshire, England, on 2 November 1835.His father, the Rev. Ridgway William Newland, was an independentminister at Hanley, who left England at the end of 1838 with hiswife and family, arrived in South Australia on 7 June 1839, andtook up land at Encounter Bay. His wife was a classical, Hebrew andFrench scholar of much ability. The life was a hard one for thepioneers, and even when they succeeded in growing a crop of wheat,there were no facilities for threshing it or grinding it intoflour. Sheep and cattle were procured and the family graduallyprospered. A church was built at which the father held services,but he would accept no money for his ministrations. He also becamea magistrate and was for many years chairman of the Encounter Baydistrict council. Everywhere looked upon as the leading man of hisdenomination, he died at the age of 75 in 1864. A church waserected to his memory at Victor Harbour. His son was at first asickly boy, but the open air life improved his health. His eveningswere largely given up to improving his education with the help ofhis mother.

In 1864 Newland took up station life on the Darling in New SouthWales some 50 miles from Wilcannia, and became more and moreinterested in the aborigines and the natural history of thecountry. He improved the breeds of his sheep and cattle, and at 40years of age had become very prosperous. At the end of 1876 hebought a home near Adelaide but continued to manage his stations.He entered the legislative assembly in 1881 as member for EncounterBay, and soon afterwards brought in a measure to build a north tosouth railway on the land grant system which was defeated. In June1885 he became treasurer in theDowner (q.v.) ministry but, findingthe strain of his duties too much for his health, resigned theposition a year later. He took much interest in the development ofthe River Murray and revived the question of the north-southrailway. He succeeded in getting a royal commission appointed toconsider it, and as chairman of the commission personally examinedthe country as far north as Alice Springs. In two pamphlets,TheFar North Country (1887) andOur Waste Lands (1888),Newlands gave an account of his journey and his views on thepossibilities of the districts traversed. In 1889 he visitedEngland and while there heard of the discovery of rich ore atBroken Hill. He had acquired an interest in the new field and thisnow became very valuable. On his return, encouraged by his friendSir Langdon Bonython(q.v.), for whose paper he had written a number of articles, hewrote his novel,Paving the Way, which embodied many of hisexperiences as a pioneer and with the aborigines. He went toEngland again in 1893 and arranged for the publication of his book.It appeared in that year and was given a good reception by thecritics. A second edition was published in 1894 and it has sincebeen several times reprinted. On Newland's return to Adelaide atthe end of the year, he began collecting material for a pamphlet onthe Northern Territory, and the necessity for its being linked tothe south by a railway. In 1899 he visited England and obtained thepromise of support from financial interests in London, andreturning to Australia obtained parliamentary sanction for theconstruction of a railway on the land grant system in 1902. Hispamphlet,Land-Grant Railway across Australia. The NorthernTerritory of the State of South Australia as a Field for Enterpriseand Capital, was published by the government at the end of thatyear. In 1906 he again went to England and succeeded in floating acompany to undertake the building of the line. On his return hefound that a Labour government underT. Price (q.v.) had come intopower, and as the policy of Labour was opposed to building lines onthe land grant system, Newland realized that nothing could be doneat the time. He resumed his work on the development of a river porton the Murray, he had become a vice-president of the River Murrayleague in 1902, and the question was kept alive in 1903 and 1904 byholding public meetings. On 28 July 1904 Newland was electedpresident of the league, and the necessity of developing the Murraywas kept steadily before the public for many years. A great stepforward was made in 1914, when the prime minister of Australia, SirJoseph Cook, pledged the Commonwealth for £1,000,000 if each of thethree states interested would spend a similar amount. This resultedin the beginning of the great work of locking the Murray which wasto be continued for many years. Other interests of Newland's werethe Royal Geographical Society of which he was president atAdelaide for several years, and the Zoological Society. He hadpublished a pamphlet in middle life,A Band of Pioneers,Old-Time Memories (2nd ed. 1919), which included an interestingaccount of the arrival of his family in 1839. This was incorporatedin hisMemoirs of Simpson Newland, written in the last yearof his long life. It was completed on 6 June 1925 and showed him tobe still in full command of his mental powers. He died three weekslater on 27 June 1925. Before he died he knew that it haddefinitely been decided to complete the north to south railwayline, but his other dream of a port at the mouth of the Murraystill awaits fulfilment. He married in 1872 Isabella Layton whosurvived him with three of his five sons. He was made a C.M.G. in1922. In addition to the books already mentioned Newland publisheda second novel,Blood Tracks of the Bush, in 1900, which wasless successful than his earlier work. His eldest son, Colonel SirHenry Simpson Newland, Kt, C.B.E., D.S.O., was born in 1873, becamea leading surgeon at Adelaide, served with great distinction duringthe 1914-18 war, was president, section of surgery, Australasianmedical congress in 1920, and was knighted in 1928. Another son,Major Victor Marra Newland, O.B.E., M.C., D.C.M., was born in 1876,served in the South African war, and with the British army in the1914-18 war, and retired with the rank of major. He was formerly amember of the legislative council of British East Africa, and in1933 became the representative for North Adelaide in the SouthAustralian house of assembly.

Simpson Newland was proud of his sturdy Puritan ancestry. He didexcellent work as a pioneer, and his first novel has value not onlyas a story but as reflecting the times in which its author lived.He had the instinct for public service, and, believing fully in thepossibilities of the Northern Territory, worked in and out ofseason for the railway he considered necessary for its development.He probably considered that his work for a river harbour on theMurray had been a failure, but he contributed in no small part tothe development of the river and its valley.

Memoirs of Simpson Newland, C.M.G.;TheAdvertiser, Adelaide, 29 June 1925; E. Morris Miller,Australian Literature.

NICHOLSON, SIR CHARLES (1808-1903), speaker first legislative council, New South Wales,

was born in England on 23 November 1808 the only son of CharlesNicholson. He was educated at Edinburgh university where he tookthe degree of M.D. in 1833. He came to Sydney in 1834, practisedhis profession for some years, and also acquired interests instation property. In 1843 he was elected a member of the firstlegislative council as one of the representatives of Port Phillip,and sat in this body until 1856. He was elected speaker in 1846 andsubsequently was twice re-elected. He took much interest in thefounding of the university of Sydney and on 24 December 1850 wasappointed a member of the senate. On 3 March 1851 he wasunanimously elected vice-provost. He was also elected a member ofthe library committee which laid the foundations of the presentexcellent library. At the inauguration ceremony held on 11 October1852, eloquent addresses were given by Nicholson and the firstprincipal,Dr Woolley(q.v.), which were printed as a pamphlet and may also be found inH. E. Barff'sShort Historical Account of the University ofSydney. Nicholson became chancellor in 1854 and held theposition until 1862. He was most active in forwarding the interestsof the university and in 1857 presented a large and valuablecollection of Egyptian, Roman and Etruscan antiquities to it. Acatalogue of the collection was published in 1858. A new edition ofthis catalogue appeared in 1891 with two papers by Nicholson added,"On Some Funeral Hieroglyphic Inscriptions found at Memphis" and"On some Remains of the Disk Worshippers Discovered at Memphis".Between 1856 and 1859 he obtained donations to pay for the stainedglass windows of the great hall and himself subscribed £500. WhenQueensland became a separate colony in 1859 Nicholson was nominateda member of the legislative council, and at the special request ofthe governor,Sir GeorgeBowen (q.v.), undertook the office of president of the councilfor the first session of parliament. In 1862 Nicholson returned toEngland and in 1865 married Sarah Elizabeth Keightley. He neverreturned to Australia but kept his interest in it, and occasionallycontributed papers relating to it to the journals of learnedsocieties. In 1890 he was appointed to represent the interests ofthe Central Queensland separation league in London, and inconnexion with this headed a deputation to Lord Knutsford. He diedin England on 8 November 1903 having nearly completed hisninety-fifth year. He was given the honorary degrees of D.C.L. byOxford, and LL.D. by Cambridge and Edinburgh universities. He wasknighted in 1852, and created a baronet in 1859. His eldest son,Charles Nicholson, the second baronet, afterwards became well-knownas an ecclesiastical architect.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November 1903;The Times, 10 November 1903;Who's Who, 1903; H. E.Barff,A Short Historical Account of the University ofSydney;The Lancet, 21 November 1903; Robert A. Dallen,Journal and Proceedings Royal Australian Historical Society,vol. XIX, pp. 213-20.

NICHOLSON, JOHN HENRY (1838-1923), miscellaneous writer,

was the son of John Nicholson, an oriental scholar ofdistinction, and the first English friend ofLeichhardt (q.v.) (A. H.Chisholm,Strange New World, p. 350 andThe Times, 9December 1886). Nicholson was born at Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire,England, on 12 June 1838, was educated at Croft House academy, andemigrated to New South Wales in 1854. He went to Queensland in1859, opened a private school at Toowoomba in 1860, and in 1863 hada school at Warwick. He joined the Queensland education departmentin May 1865 as an assistant teacher. He resigned in 1868 in orderto visit England, rejoined the department in June 1869, and laterhad charge of several country state schools. Between 1867 and in1878 he published three little books of miscellaneous prose andverse, facetious and satirical in character and not of much merit.So far back as 1856, however, he had begun to brood over the ideaof writing an allegorical history of a man's life on the earth, andin 1873 he wrote the early chapters ofThe Adventures ofHalek, which was published in London in 1882. He resigned fromthe education department in April 1885 but rejoined some yearslater and was head teacher of the state school at Cambooya fromSeptember 1893 to the end of 1894 when he finally gave up teaching.He was then appointed registrar of births, marriages and deaths atNundah near Brisbane. A second edition ofHalek waspublished in 1896 at Brisbane, and a third appeared in 1904. In thesame yearAlmoni, described as a companion volume toHalek, was also published at Brisbane. Other volumes in bothprose and verse will be found listed in Miller'sAustralianLiterature. When Nicholson was approaching 70 years of age aSwedish literary woman, who had been attracted by his work, came toAustralia from California and married him. In his later yearsNicholson, who had always been inclined to be erratic, wouldsometimes voluntarily go to the mental hospital at Goodna until hefelt fit to face the world again. He died at Brisbane on 30 June1923 at the age of 85. His wife survived him. There were nochildren.

Nicholson wrote a fair amount of verse, but little of it isgood. Three examples are given inA Book of QueenslandVerse. He is remembered forHalek but though it hasbeautiful moments it is problematical whether many people have readit to the end.Almoni, described as a companion volume isreally a sequel toHalek. Nicholson was a man of unusualculture and character, with a streak of genius in him, which hescarcely succeeded in bringing out in his books.

Private information; Information from Department ofPublic Instruction, Brisbane; E. Morris Miller,AustralianLiterature; H. M. Green,An Outline of AustralianLiterature; Preface toAlmoni; H. A. Kellow,Queensland Poets;The Brisbane Courier, 3 July1923.

NICHOLSON, WILLIAM (1816-1865), "father of the ballot",

the son of a Cumberland farmer, was born on 27 February 1816(Aust. Ency.). He arrived in Melbourne in 1842 and beganbusiness as a grocer. He improved his position and eventuallybecame head of a well-known firm of merchants, W. Nicholson andCompany. In 1848 Nicholson was elected to the city council and wasmayor in 1850-1. In 1852 he was elected a member of the legislativecouncil for North Bourke. During the 1853-4 session he was on thecommittee which drew up the constitution for Victoria, and on 18December 1855 he moved and carried a motion that any new electoralact "should provide for electors recording their votes by secretballot". This had been opposed by the government andHaines (q.v.) accordinglyresigned. Nicholson was sent for by the governor but found himselfunable to form a ministry and returned his commission. Hainesbecame premier again but agreed to leave the ballot an openquestion for his supporters. Nicholson succeeded in carryingclauses which provided that each voter would be given a list of thecandidates, and that he should strike out the names of those forwhom he did not wish to vote. He visited England in 1856 and wasbanqueted and congratulated on his work in bringing in the ballot,a most valuable advance in democratic government. He returned toMelbourne in 1858, in 1859 re-entered the legislative assembly, andin the same year was elected chairman of the chamber of commerce.In October 1859 theO'Shanassy (q.v.) governmentwas defeated and Nicholson became premier and chief secretary. Hisministry lasted about 13 months, and much time was spent in aconflict with the legislative council over a land bill. The act waseventually passed, but it had been so amended as to becomepractically useless. Nicholson was never in office again. He had asevere illness in January 1864, and never fully recovering died on10 March 1865. He was survived by his wife and severalchildren.

Nicholson died before he was 50. He was a sound business man ofunquestioned integrity who, if he had kept his health, wouldprobably have had a long career of useful public service. Hisspecial claim to remembrance is his bringing in of the secretballot in Victoria, an innovation which speedily spread to othercolonies and countries. For a full discussion of the origin of thesecret ballot and the help given byH. S. Chapman (q.v.) toNicholson, see Sir Ernest Scott's papers on "The History of theVictorian Ballot" in theVictorian Historical Magazine,November 1920 and May 1921.

The Argus, Melbourne, 10 March 1865;TheAge, Melbourne, 11 March 1865; H. G. Turner,A History ofthe Colony of Victoria.

NISBET, HUME (1849-c.1921), author and artist,

was born at Stirling, Scotland, on 8 August 1849. At 16 years ofage he came to Australia and stayed about seven years, during whichhe travelled widely. On returning to Scotland he was for eightyears art master in the Watt College and the old school of arts. Hetravelled in Australia and New Guinea again during 1886, and paidanother visit to Australia in 1895. He had studied painting underSam Bough, R.S.A., but does not appear to have had any success; ina volume calledWhere Art Begins, published by him in 1892,he speaks with bitterness on the chances of success in painting. Hegave most of his time to writing and published many volumes ofverse, books on art and fiction. Several of his novels are colouredby his Australian experiences and appear to have had some success.Miller in hisAustralian Literature lists about 40 novelspublished between 1888 and 1905. During the next 10 years hepublished a few more books includingHathor and Other Poems,which appeared as the first volume of his poetic and dramatic worksin 1905. There was another edition in 1908. He seems to have diedin 1921. His name appears in the list of artists inThe Year'sArt for 1921 but not in any subsequent volume.

Who's Who, 1918; E. Morris Miller,AustralianLiterature.

NIXON, FRANCIS RUSSELL (1803-1879), first anglican bishop of Tasmania,

was born in August 1803. His father, the Rev. Robert Nixon, wasan amateur painter who exhibited about 20 pictures at theexhibitions of the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1808. Nixon waseducated at the Merchant Taylors' school and St John's College,Oxford, of which he was successively a scholar and a fellow. Hetook the degree of bachelor of arts with third-class honours inclassics in 1827. He subsequently obtained the degrees of M.A. andD.D. He was chaplain at Naples and afterwards held the perpetualcuracies of Sandgate and Sandwich. While addressing a publicmeeting at Canterbury his eloquence brought him to the notice ofthe archbishop of Canterbury, who appointed him one of the sixpreachers at the cathedral. In September 1840 he preached a sermonin the presence of the archbishop which was published with notes inthe same year. In 1842 Nixon was consecrated first bishop ofTasmania, but he did not arrive at Hobart until June 1843. Hisfirst task was the organization of the church in Tasmania, andbeing a moderate high churchman he came into conflict with some ofthe clergy of evangelical views. HisLectures, Historical,Doctrinal, and Practical on the Catechism of the Church ofEngland, a volume of over 600 pages, was published in London in1843, and a second edition was called for in the following year.His letters patent declared his jurisdiction "spiritual andecclesiastical throughout the diocese according to theecclesiastical laws of England". Endeavouring to act on his lettersof appointment, he came into conflict with the governor,Eardley-Wilmot (q.v.), and thePresbyterian and other denominations petitioned the queen on thesubject. Nixon returned to England to get the question settled, andfresh letters patent were issued which confined his powers to hisown church. His administration of the diocese was firm andenergetic, and he set a good example to the colonists by devoting alarge proportion of his own income to the needs of the church andeducation. In 1847 he addressed a vigorous communication to EarlGrey on the evils of transportation, which was printed by order ofthe house of commons in that year. It was also privately printedand issued at Launceston in November 1848. He resigned his see onaccount of ill health in March 1863, and was given a valuableliving at Bolton Percy in Yorkshire; but finding his health wouldnot allow him to give proper attention to his duties he resigned itin 1865, and went to live near Lake Maggiore in Italy. He died athis residence there on 7 April 1879. In addition to the worksalready mentioned Nixon published a shortHistory ofMerchant-Taylors' School in 1823,The Cruise of the Beacon,A Narrative of a Visit to the Islands in Bass's Straits (1857),and some charges and sermons. Like his father he practisedpainting, his sketchbook containing drawings and paintings ofTasmanian scenes is at the Mitchell library, Sydney. He was anexhibitor at the first exhibition of pictures held in Australia,which was opened at Hobart on 6 January 1845, and in the same yearhe published hisViews of Adelaide and its Vicinity, drawn,etched, and printed by himself. He was married three times (1) toMiss Streatfield, (2) to Miss Woolcock (sic)*, (3) to Miss Müller.A profile portrait in wax by Mrs Walker is at the national galleryat Hobart.

[* In fact, Miss Woodcock.--ebook editor]

The Times, 12 April 1879;The Mercury,Hobart, 27 May 1879; W. Moore,The Story of Australian Art;J. Fenton,A History of Tasmania.

NOBLE, MONTAGUE ALFRED (1873-1940), cricketer,

was born at Sydney on 28 January 1873. Coming first into noticeas a junior cricketer playing against Stoddart's English team inthe 1894-5 season, he was selected for the New South Wales team in1895, for Australia in 1898, and became the greatest all-roundAustralian player of his time. He was in four successive teamsvisiting England from 1899 to 1909, and captained the team on thelast of these tours. In test matches against England he scored 1905runs, average 30.72, took 115 wickets, average 24.78, and ininterstate matches scored 4996 runs for an average of 69.38 andtook 158 wickets. He had an easy graceful style as a batsman andwas especially strong on the leg side. When occasion demanded it hecould play with the greatest deterinination and restraint; his mostfamous effort of this kind was at the Manchester test match in1899, when he saved the Australians from defeat by staying in forover three hours in the first innings for a score of 60 not out,and for over five hours in the second innings for a score of 89.His bowling was medium-pace with plenty of spin and cleverlyconcealed change of pace, and he was one of the earliest Australianbowlers to be successful with the swerve. He was a remarkable judgeof cricket and a great captain, possibly the greatest that everplayed the game. A testimonial match was played in Sydney in 1908and Noble received over £2000. In private life he was a dentist,and in his later years he became well known as a broadcaster andcommentator on important matches. At the time of his death on 22June 1940 he was a trustee of the Sydney cricket ground andpresident of the New South Wales Baseball Association. He wroteseveral good books on cricket includingGilligan's Men(1925),The Game's the Thing (1926),Those Ashes(1927), andThe Fight for the Ashes (1929). Of these thesecond is particularly interesting.

The Times, 24 June 1940;The Sydney MorningHerald, 24 June 1940;Wisden, 1941;The Herald,Melbourne, 22 June 1940; E. L. Roberts,Test Cricket andCricketers; personal knowledge.

NORTHCOTE, HENRY STAFFORD, 1st baron (1846-1911), third governor-general of Australia,

was born on 18 November 1846, the second son of Sir HenryStafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh. He was educated atEton, and Merton College, Oxford, and in 1868 entered the foreignoffice as a clerk. In 1871 he accompanied his father on his missionto Washington in connexion with the Alabama claims, and going on avisit to Canada met Alice, adopted daughter of George Stephen,afterwards Lord Mount Stephen, and in 1873 was married to her. Hewent to the conference held at Constantinople in 1876 as privatesecretary to Lord Salisbury, and after his return was privatesecretary to his father, who was then chancellor of the exchequer.Northcote entered the house of commons as member for Exeter in1880, and held the seat for 19 years. In 1885 he became financialsecretary to the war office, and in 1886 for a few months wassurveyor-general of ordnance. He was afterwards chairman of theassociated chambers of commerce and gained a reputation for hisquiet shrewdness of judgment. He was created a baronet in 1887, andin 1899 was appointed governor of Bombay. He was raised to thepeerage as Baron Northcote on the following 20 January. He arrivedin February to find plague prevalent and a famine developing. Hefaced the position with courage, visited the plague districts withhis wife, and spent much of his private income helping to organizerelief measures. One particularly valuable piece of work was hisgathering together and preserving of the remnants of a famous breedof cattle.

Towards the end of 1903 Northcote was appointed governor-generalof Australia. He was sworn in at Sydney on 21 January 1904, andfound federal politics going through a difficult period. TheDeakin (q.v.) governmentwas defeated at the end of April, and the Labour government underWatson (q.v.) whichfollowed lasted less than four months. There were three parties, noone of which had a majority of the house. Watson asked for adissolution, but Northcote refused it and a composite ministryunderReid (q.v.) andMcLean (q.v.) was formed.This government was defeated some 10 months later. Deakin formedhis second government in July 1905, and with the support of theLabour party remained in office until November 1908. Northcote hadcompleted his term of five years in September. He returned toEngland by way of Canada and took his seat in the house of lords.He retained his interest in Australia, and a suggestion was madethat he should be asked to accept the position of highcommissioner, but this did not come to anything. He died on 29September 1911 and was survived by Lady Northcote. He had nochildren.

Northcote was a good speaker and a hard-working administrator.He travelled extensively in Australia and made himself familiarwith every aspect of its life. His ability, sound judgment, andknowledge of parliamentary life was of the greatest use in theearly difficult years of the federal parliament, and the heads ofthe opposing parties all united in their admiration for him. It wasin fact impossible to be closely in touch with Northcote withoutrecognizing his high character.

The Times, 30 September 1911;The Argus,Melbourne, 2 October 1911; H. G. Turner,The First Decade of theAustralian Commonwealth;Burke's Peerage, etc.,1911.

NORTON, ALBERT (1836-1914), politician,

sixth son of James Norton, M.L.C., was born at Elswick, nearSydney, on 1 January 1836. He was educated at the Rev. F.Wilkinson's school at Sydney, and from 1852 to 1857 was gainingexperience on stations in the New England district of New SouthWales. During the next three years he had a wandering life in NewSouth Wales and Victoria, but in 1860 bought the Rodd's Bay stationin the Port Curtis district, Queensland. He specialized in cattle,and in spite of some bad experiences with drought and disease,became a successful pastoralist. In 1866 he stood for the PortCurtis seat in the legislative assembly but was defeated, and inthe following year was nominated to the legislative council. Heresigned his seat in 1868 and did not attempt to enter politicsagain until in 1878, having previously retired from his station, hewas elected unopposed for Port Curtis. In 1883 he was minister forworks and mines for a few months in the firstMcIlwraith (q.v.) ministry,and in 1888 was unanimously elected speaker of the legislativeassembly. He lost his seat at the 1893 election, and in 1894 wasnominated as a member of the legislative council. He was chairmanof committee from 1902 to 1907 and continued to be an active memberof the house until a few months before his death at Milton,Queensland, on 11 March 1914. Norton had been much interested inthe welfare of the mining industry, he encouraged the giving oflectures in mineralogy, and was primarily responsible for theestablishment of the school of mines. He was a trustee of the RoyalSociety of Queensland, and contributed about a dozen papers to itsProceedings. His political speeches were always carefullyprepared but the effect was to some extent spoiled by a monotonousdelivery. He was much liked by fellow members of parliament, andhis extraordinarily high sense of honour made him an influence inthe public life of his time.

Norton's only son predeceased him. His elder brother, JamesNorton (1824-1906), was a well-known solicitor at Sydney, and formany years a member of the legislative council of New South Wales.He was postmaster-general in theStuart (q.v.) ministry from May1884 to October 1885, and took much interest in the Sydney publiclibrary of which he was president of the trustees for some years.He died on 18 July 1906.

The Brisbane Courier, 12 March 1914;TheDaily Mail, Brisbane, 12 March 1914; C. A. Bernays,Queensland Politics During Sixty Years;Proceedings ofthe Royal Society of Queensland, 1914. p. 1, and index to vols.I to XXV;The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July1906.

NOVAR, VISCOUNT. SeeMUNRO-FERGUSON.

NUTTALL, CHARLES (1872-1934), artist,

son of James Charles Nuttall, was born at Fitzroy, Melbourne, on6 September 1872. He received his art training at the nationalgallery, Melbourne, and became a contributor of drawings to theBulletin,Life, and other journals. In 1902 hecompleted a large monochrome painting of the "Opening of FirstCommonwealth Parliament". A series of portrait sketches ofwell-known Australians from studies made for this picture waspublished in 1902, under the title,RepresentativeAustralians. In the same year a small popular book of humoroussketches,Peter Wayback visits the Melbourne Cup, was alsopublished. In 1905 Nuttall went to the United States, joined thestaff of theNew York Herald, and contributed toLife,The Century,Harper's, and otherperiodicals. After a tour in Europe he returned to Australia in1910, and frequently exhibited drawings and etchings at artexhibitions. He also wrote stories and articles, and wasestablishing a reputation as a broadcaster when he died atMelbourne on 28 November 1934. His wife survived him but there wereno children.

Nuttall had a breezy and amiable temperament which brought himmany friends. His picture of the opening of the Commonwealthparliament was a commission which he carried out faithfully, but heattached no artistic importance to it. His sketches for it weresensitively felt and have character, his imaginative drawings wereoften excellent, and he was also a good etcher. He is representedin the national gallery at Melbourne by drawings and etchings. Inaddition to the publications mentioned,Melbourne Town,containing a series of reproductions of wash drawings of Melbourne,was published in 1933.

The Argus andThe Age, Melbourne, 29November 1934; W. Moore,The Story of Australian Art;personal knowledge.

O'CONNELL, SIR MAURICE CHARLES the elder (1768-1848), commander of forces and lieutenant-governor of New SouthWales,

was born in Ireland in 1768 (Aust. Ency.). He had had adistinguished career in the army when he came withMacquarie (q.v.) to New SouthWales in charge of the 73rd regiment. He also had a commission aslieutenant-governor, and so acted when Macquarie was absent inTasmania in the latter part of 1812. O'Connell was then on goodterms with Macquarie, who, in November of that year, stronglyrecommended that his salary should be considerably increased.O'Connell had married in May 1810 Mrs Putland, a daughter ofBligh (q.v.), who hadnot forgiven the members of the party that had deposed her father.O'Connell became involved in the quarrel and in August 1813Macquarie in a dispatch to Lord Bathurst stated that, "thoughlieutenant-colonel O'Connell is naturally a very well disposed man. . . it would greatly improve the harmony of the country . . . ifthe whole of the officers and men of the 73 regiment were removedfrom it". On 26 March 1814 O'Connell and his regiment weretransferred to Ceylon. He attained the rank of major-general in1830, was knighted in 1835, and in 1838 returned to Sydney incommand of the forces. He was senior member of the executivecouncil when, the question of the rights of Bligh's daughters tocertain land granted to Bligh in 1806 having been again raised,Governor Gipps (q.v.) foundhimself in an extremely delicate position. The matter was settledby compromise in 1841. O'Connell was acting-governor of New SouthWales from 12 July to 2 August 1846, and died at Sydney on 25 May1848. He has been given by some authorities a third Christian name,"Philip", but this does not appear in references to him in theHistorical Records of Australia, in W. A. Shaw'sTheKnights of England, or in the notice of his death in theSydney Morning Herald for 26 May 1848. His son,Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, theyounger, is noticed separately.

J. H. Heaton,Australian Dictionary of Dates;The Gentleman's Magazine, November 1848, p. 543;Historical Records of Australia, vols. VII, VIII, andXX.

O'CONNELL, SIR MAURICE CHARLES the younger (1812-1879), Queensland pioneer and president of the legislative council,

was born at Sydney in 1812. His father wasSir Maurice Charles O'Connell, theelder (q.v.), his mother was a daughter ofGovernor Bligh (q.v.). He waseducated at the high school, Edinburgh, and entered the army as anensign at 16. In 1835 he volunteered for foreign service with theBritish Legion in Spain, and was given the rank of colonel. Hefought with distinction and was created a knight of several Spanishorders. O'Connell returned to Australia in 1838 as militarysecretary on the staff of his father. He afterwards resigned fromthe army and took up land. He was elected a member of thelegislative council in 1846. He was appointed commissioner of crownlands for the Burnett district in 1848, became government residentat Port Curtis in 1854, and held this position until 1860. He wasnominated as one of the original members of the Queenslandlegislative council in 1860, was a minister without portfolio inthe first ministry underHerbert (q.v.), and introducedin July of that year a bill to provide for primary education inQueensland. Shortly afterwards he was elected president of thelegislative council and retained this position until his death. Hewas commandant of the local military forces, and on four occasionswas acting-governor of Queensland and showed tact and ability inthis position. He was president of the Australasian Association,and of the Queensland Turf Club, and was a vice-president of theNational Agricultural Association. He died on 23 March 1879. Thereis a monument to his memory at Toowong. He married in 1835 ElizaEmiline, daughter of Colonel Philip Le Geyh, who survived him. Hewas knighted in 1871.

J. H. Heaton,Australian Dictionary of Dates; P.Mennell,The Dictionary of Australasian Biography; C. A.Bernays,Queensland Politics During Sixty Years;Debrett's Peerage, etc., 1879.

O'CONNOR, CHARLES YELVERTON (1843-1902), engineer,

was born at Gravelmount, Meath, Ireland, on 11 January 1843.Educated at the Waterford endowed school, he was apprenticed in1859 to J. Chaloner Smith and obtained experience of railwayengineering until 1865. He then went to New Zealand, becameassistant engineer for the province of Canterbury in 1866, andafter holding other positions, inspecting engineer for the whole ofthe middle island. In 1883 he became under-secretary of publicworks and in 1890 was appointed marine engineer for the whole ofthe colony. He had had much experience in harbour and dockconstruction when in April 1891 he resigned his position to becomeengineer-in-chief for Western Australia. His first problem was thequestion of a harbour for Perth. The Fremantle site as it then wasdid not seem promising, and Sir John Coode, an English engineer,had reported against it because of the danger of sand-drift. Coode,however, when he made his report was not fully aware of what couldbe done by suction dredging, and though various alternatives hadbeen suggestecl, O'Connor was confident that by building two moles,blasting out the bar of rock at the mouth of the river, and usingrecent types of dredges, a satisfactory harbour could be made.Sir John Forrest (q.v.)was at first opposed to this plan but was eventually converted, andin March 1892 funds were provided for a start to be made. It was agreat undertaking for a colony of so small a population, but in alittle more than five years the harbour was declared open. Therewas still much dredging to be done but in August 1899 the mail-boatOrmuz was able to unload its mails at Fremantle, which nowbecame the port of call for all the important steamers trading toWestern Australia. Twenty-five years later the battle-cruiserHood of 42,000 tons, was able to tie up at the wharf.

Important as this work was O'Connor had other duties. He wasengineer-in-chief of the railways, and new lines had to be built.The number of miles of railway was trebled in the first five yearshe was in office, and in addition he had largely rebuilt theoriginal lines by substituting a heavier type of rail. By 1897 therailway had been extended to Kalgoorlie and a new problem arose.The rainfall on the goldfields was low and there was muchevaporation. Water was brought by rail to Coolgardie and sold atthe rate of over £3 a thousand gallons, and the position was evenworse at Kalgoorlie. More boring was suggested, but O'Connor feltthat would be merely a palliative, and that a scheme must beevolved which would give plentiful water to the cities in thegoldfields. On the western side of the Darling ranges there was agood rainfall from which an enormous amount of water flowed to thesea. Someone, it may have been H. W. Venn, then director of publicworks, suggested that the water might be impounded and that pumpingstations could be erected to pump the water to the level of thehigher ground at Coolgardie. O'Connor worked out a scheme whichallowed for the pumping of 5,000,000 gallons a day a distance ofover 350 miles through 30 inch steel pipes. He was supported byVenn and the leading engineers of the service, though it wasrealized that there was a danger of leakage at the joints of thepipes. Forrest although cautious at first at last became convincedthat the scheme was workable, and in July 1896 he brought a billbefore parliament to raise a loan of £2,500,000 with which to carryout the plan. There was much opposition in parliament butnevertheless the bill was passed on 3 September. Then the stormbroke out again outside parliament, the main objection being thatthe goldfields might not last, and that the colony would be saddledwith a huge debt. O'Connor in the meantime went quietly on his waymaking careful surveys, and securing the best outside adviceconcerning details. In 1897 he visited London and conferred with acommittee of English experts. It was decided that there should beeight pumping stations, that the pipeline should follow the railwayline, and that it should be laid on the surface so that leaks couldbe easily found and repaired. A dam was constructed about 28 milesfrom Perth, and while this was being done the steel pipes werebeing made and steadily laid. But there was a good deal ofcriticism. A Perth firm invented a machine for caulking the joints,and offered to finish the work for £30,000 less than the governmentestimate. When O'Connor recommended that the offer should beaccepted the attacks broke out afresh it being claimed that if aprivate company was willing to do the work for a lower price thegovernment must be wasting money. O'Connor had nothing to fear, hewas thoroughly capable and was able to produce facts and figures inrebuttal of any criticism. He, however, had had much anxiety whichled to sleepless nights and much mental strain. When the criticismtook the form of impugning his honesty, his resistance broke down.On the morning of 10 March 1902 he went for a ride on the beachnear Fremantle and shot himself. He left a letter in which he said:"I feel that my brain is suffering, and I am in great fear of whateffect all this worry will have upon me. I have lost control of mythoughts. The Coolgardie scheme is all right, and I could finish itif I got the chance and protection from misrepresentation; butthere is no hope for that now, and it is better that it should begiven to some entirely new man to do, who will be untrammelled byprior responsibilities. 10/3/02. Put the wing wall to Helena weirat once." His last thought was for the good of his great work. Thiswas handed over to C. S. R. Palmer who had been O'Connor'sengineer-in-chief, and who carried out the scheme of his formerchief with energy and success. On 22 December 1902 the waterreached Coolgardie. On 25 January 1903 Sir John Forrest with thetemperature 106 in the shade turned on the water at Coolgardie, andat five o'clock of the same afternoon he turned on the water whichbegan to flow steadily into a great reservoir at Kalgoorlie.

The scheme cost about 9 per cent more than O'Connor hadexpected, but much of the extra cost was due to circumstancesoutside his control. Abundance of water was provided for thegoldfield towns at a cost of three shillings and sixpence athousand gallons, little more than a twentieth of what had beenpaid in the past. In addition much water has been supplied to thepeople on the land along the route, and much of the increase inwheat-growing was made possible by the scheme. Thirty years laterthe original loan of £2,500,000 had been paid off out of revenue,and the scheme still continues to provide the interest and asinking fund on account of additional spending since the completionof the original scheme. Few government services in Australia havebeen so completely successful. O'Connor left a widow and sevenchildren. He was made a C.M.G. in 1897, and a statue incommemoration of his great work in Australia is at Fremantle.

The Engineer, 18 April 1902; J. K. Ewers,TheStory of the Pipe-Line;Proceedings of the Institution ofCivil Engineers, vols. CLXXXIV, p. 157 and CLXII, p. 50;Statistical Register of Western Australia, part VII, p. 12;Burke's Peerage, etc., 1901.

O'CONNOR, RICHARD EDWARD (1851-1912), politician and judge,

son of Richard O'Connor, clerk of parliaments, New South Wales,was born at Sydney on 4 August 1851. He was educated at LyndhurstCollege, Sydney Grammar School, and Sydney university where hegraduated in 1871. He became a clerk to the legislative council,studied law, and was called to the bar in 1876. Almost from thebeginning he was known as a sound lawyer and he subsequently builtup a successful practice. He became a candidate for the legislativeassembly but was defeated, and in December 1887 was nominated amember of the legislative council. He held office in theDibbs (q.v.) ministry as minister ofjustice from October 1891 to December 1893, and during hisadministration useful acts relating to criminal law and probatecourt procedure were passed. He was made a Q.C. in 1896, and in thesame year was a member of the people's federal convention held atBathurst. He was an earnest advocate for federation and was electedone of the New South Wales representatives for the convention of1897-8. At this convention he was a member withSir Edmund Barton (q.v.) andSir John Downer (q.v.) ofthe drafting committee which prepared the federation bill. This,with some amendments, eventually became the federal constitution.In 1901 O'Connor was elected as a senator for New South Wales tothe first federal house. He became vice-president of the executivecouncil and leader of the government in the senate as a member ofBarton's ministry, and showed excellent qualities as a leader.There was a slight preponderance of free trade members in thesenate but he succeeded in getting the tariff bill passed withcomparatively few and unimportant amendments. When the high courtwas formed in September 1903 he was appointed one of the threejudges. He had all the essentials for a great judge, uniting athoroughly sound knowledge of the law with patience, courtesy,dignity, and the ability to separate material from immaterialfacts. When he became first president of the court of arbitrationhis reasonableness and sense of fair play made him admirablyqualified, but the work was trying and he resigned about threeyears later. He was obliged to take a sea voyage for the benefit ofhis health early in 1912, but returned with no improvement and diedat Sydney on 18 November 1912. He married in 1879 Sarah Hensleighwho survived him with four sons and two daughters.

O'Connor was tall and in his later years rather heavily built.He had a refined and scholarly appearance, and his wide sympathiesand broad outlook made him one of the best-liked men in politics.He gave up a large practice to enter the senate, and he neverrecovered from the strain of the first three years in that house,while means were being found to make the constitution workable. Nota great orator he was an excellent debater calm, courteous andcourageous, and his reasonableness was often more impressive thanthe oratory of his opponents. He never sought honours, to him thework was the only important thing, and he twice declined aknighthood.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 1912, 9May 1927;The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 19 November 1912;The Times, 19 November 1912; R. H. Croll,TomRoberts.

O'DOHERTY, KEVIN IZOD (1823-1905), politician and public man,

was born in Dublin on 7 September 1823. (Dict.Nat.Biog.)Other authorities state that he was born in June 1824 andDuffy (q.v.), in hisMy Life inTwo Hemispheres, states that O'Doherty was still under age whenhe was arrested in July 1848. Duffy, however, was writing 50 Yearslater. O'Doherty received a good education and studied medicine,but before he was qualified, joined the Young Ireland party and inJune 1848 established theIrish Tribune. Only five numberswere issued, and on 10 July O'Doherty was arrested and charged withtreason-felony. At the first and second trials the juriesdisagreed, but at the third trial he was found guilty and sentencedto transportation for 10 years. He arrived in Tasmania in November1849, was at once released on parole, and in 1854 received a pardonwith the condition that he must not reside in Great Britain orIreland. He went to Paris and carried on his medical studies,making one secret visit to Ireland to marry Mary Anne Kelly, towhom he was affianced before leaving Ireland. He received anunconditional pardon in 1856, and completing his studies at Dublin,graduated F.R.C.S. Ireland in 1857. He practised in Dublin withsuccess, but in 1862 went to Brisbane and became well-known as oneof its leading physicians. He was elected a member of thelegislative assembly in 1867, in 1872 was responsible for a healthact being passed, and was also one of the early opponents of thetraffic in kanakas. In 1877 he transferred to the legislativecouncil, and in 1885 resigned as he intended to settle in Europe.In Ireland he was cordially welcomed, and was returned unopposed tothe house of commons for Meath North in November; but finding theclimate did not suit him he did not seek reelection in 1886, andreturned to Brisbane in that year. He attempted to take up hismedical practice again but was not successful, and he died in poorcircumstances on 15 July 1905. His wife survived him with adaughter. A fund was raised by public subscription to provide forhis widow, a poetess of ability born in 1826, who in her early dayswas well known as the author of Irish patriotic verse in theNation under the name, of "Eva". In Australia sheoccasionally contributed to Queensland journals, and one of herpoems is included inA Book of Queensland Verse. She died atBrisbane on 21 May 1910.

O'Doherty was a genial, picturesque, and very well-known andrespected figure at Brisbane. He retained his interest in Irishpolitics, and for some years was president of the Australian branchof the Irish National League.

The Queenslander, 22 July 1905, 28 May. 1910;The Times, 4 and 5 September 1905; C. G. Duffy,FourYears of Irish History;The Advocate, Melbourne, 29 July1905; P. S. Cleary,Australia's Debt to IrishNation-builders; D. J. O'Donoghue,The Poets of Ireland,1912 Ed.; C. A. Bernays,Queensland Politics During SixtyYears; J. H. Heaton,Australian Dictionary ofDates.

OFFICER, EDWARD CAIRNS (1871-1921), artist,

was born at Murray Downs, Swan Hill, Victoria, in 1871. He wasthe third son of Suetonius Officer and his wife, a daughter of theRev. Adam Cairns. His grandfather, Sir Robert Officer (1800-1879),was speaker of the Tasmanian house of assembly for many years.Officer was educated at Toorak College and the national gallery,Melbourne. From there he went to Paris and studied at Julien's. Heexhibited at leading exhibitions in Paris and London, and in 1903was the winner of the Wynne prize awarded by the national gallery,Sydney. In 1912 his painting, "The Woolshed", was purchased undertheFelton (q.v.) bequestfor the national gallery, Melbourne. In the same year, on thefoundation of the Australian Art Association at Melbourne, he waselected its president and held the position for the rest of hislife. He was appointed a trustee of the public library, museums andnational gallery of Victoria in 1916. He died at Macedon, Victoria,on 7 July 1921. He married Grace, daughter ofSir Thomas Fitzgerald (q.v.),who survived him. Officer who worked in oils did some excellentlandscape work, restrained, sometimes low-toned, yet with a feelingfor the open air. Three examples of his work are at the Melbournegallery and he is also represented at Castlemaine.

The Argus, 9 July 1921; W. Moore,The Storyof Australian Art.

OGILVIE, ALBERT GEORGE (1891-1939), premier of Tasmania,

elder son of James Ogilvie, was born at Hobart on 10 March 1891.He was educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat, Victoria, andthe university of Tasmania, where he graduated LL.B. in 1914. Hewas admitted to the bar in the same year. In 1919 he was elected tothe house of assembly for Franklin, and retained the seat at eachsucceeding election. In October 1923 he joined theJ. A. Lyons (q.v.) cabinet asattorney-general and minister for education, to which was addedmines and forestry in March 1924. In this year he was made a king'scouncil and was then the youngest to hold that position inAustralia. In 1927 he resigned from the Lyons government and sat asa private member, but was elected leader of the opposition whenLyons went into federal politics in 1929. He became premier withoutportfolio of a Labour ministry on 21 June 1934, but although he hadno special department he studied all legislation closely and workedearly and late at his office. He was much interested in the healthof the community and advocated hospital extensions, stressed thenecessity for home defence training, and realizing the difficultiesof the smaller states, fought hard for Tasmania at loan councilmeetings. He worked for the establishment of the newsprint industryin Tasmania, and instituted a superannuation fund for stateofficials. He twice visited England during his premiership, and waspresent at the silver jubilee celebrations of George V in 1935, andthe coronation of George VI. He gave great attention to financialproblems, and though his financial theories did not meet withgeneral acceptance, on the whole his administration established afeeling of confidence. In June 1939 he spent a week-end atWarburton, some miles from Melbourne, being on his way to a loancouncil meeting at Canberra. He took ill while playing golf anddied a few hours later on 10 June. He married Dorothy Hines whosurvived him with a daughter. The attorney-general in his cabinet,E. J. Ogilvie, was a brother. Ogilvie was a trenchant and abledebater and a great driving force in the politics of his state. Hemade no attempt to enter federal politics, but many thought thathad he done so he would have been a potential prime minister.

The Mercury, Hobart, 12 June 1939;TheExaminer, Launceston, 12 June 1939 ;The Argus,Melbourne, 12 June 1939.

O'HARA, JOHN BERNARD (1862-1927), poet and schoolmaster,

was born at Bendigo, Victoria, on 29 October 1862, not 1864, asis frequently stated. His father, Patrick Knight O'Hara, a primaryschool teacher in the education department, Victoria, alsopublished two volumes of verse. O'Hara was educated at CarltonCollege and Ormond College, Melbourne university, where he had adistinguished career. After winning various exhibitions hegraduated with first-class honours in mathematics and physics in1885. He was appointed lecturer in mathematics and naturalphilosophy at Ormond College in 1886, and in 1889 resigned tobecome headmaster of South Melbourne College. In his hands itbecame the leading private school in Victoria, and its pupils morethan held their own in competition with those from the publicschools. During a period of eight years, of 28 first-class honoursgained by all the schools of Victoria in physics and chemistry, 14were obtained by pupils from South Melbourne College. O'Hara was aninspiring teacher, and many of his pupils have since helddistinguished positions in the universities of Australia.

O'Hara published his first volume of poems,Songs of theSouth, in 1891. This was followed bySongs of the South,Second Series, in 1895,Lyrics of Nature (1899),ABook of Sonnets (1902),Odes and Lyrics (1906),Calypso and other Poems (1912),The Poems of John BernardO'Hara, A Selection (1918),At Eventide (1922), andSonnets and Rondels (1925). All these volumes werefavourably received by the press, and in 1919 a critic inTheTimes Literary Supplement spoke of O'Hara as a "singer whotakes his place in the company of representative English poets".That was going too far. O'Hara wrote a large amount of carefullywrought verse, always readable and often on the verge of poetry.His sonnets are good and his nature poems charming, what he had tosay was often beautifully said, but he cannot be given a high placeamong Australian poets.

In his youth O'Hara was a skilful cricketer and played pennantcricket for many years. As a boy he metMarcus Clarke, and was friendlywithWilliam Gay,Brunton Stephens,John Farrell and other literarymen of his period. The close attention he had to give to his schoolkept him out of literary circles for many years. After hisretirement in 1917 he did not enter them again, and lived quietlyuntil his death on 31 March 1927. He married in 1910 AgnesElizabeth Law of Hamilton, Victoria, who survived him.

Cyclopaedia of Victoria, 1903;TheHerald, (sometime in 1918 a corrected but undated cutting wasforwarded by Mr O'Hara in 1923);The Argus, Melbourne, 1April 1927; private information.

OLIPHANT, ERNEST HENRY CLARK (1862-1936), Elizabethan scholar,

son of Felix Edwin Oliphant, was born at Melbourne on 14 August1862. He was educated at Scotch College and the university ofMelbourne, but did not graduate. He became an assistant librarianat the Melbourne public library in 1884, but in December 1888resigned and went to Europe. In 1890Mesmerist, a Novel waspublished in London, and during the years 1890-2 three papers byOliphant on "The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher" appeared inEnglische Studien, Leipzig. These were afterwards reprintedin pamphlet form. Returning to Melbourne in 1893 Oliphant took upjournalism. In 1895 he published anonymously at Korumburra,Victoria, a volume of verse,Lyrics, Religious andIrreligious. His name appeared as publisher and he afterwardsacknowledged to the present writer that he was the author of thevolume. Oliphant was in Tasmania from 1899 to 1902 as editor of theMt Lyell Standard, and was associate-editor of theMiningStandard, Melbourne, from 1903 to 1906. He visited Englandagain and wrote a series of papers for theModern LanguageReview on "Shakespeare's Plays: an Examination" which appearedin the July 1908 and January and April 1909 issues. These were alsoissued separately. Oliphant returned to Melbourne again and becamethe editor of theAustralian Mining Standard in 1911. Heheld the position, with changes in the name of the journal, until1918. At the beginning of the war he wrote an able piece ofpropaganda,Germany and Good Faith, which was published inMelbourne in 1914 and later in London. In the same year, in givingthe annual lecture of the Melbourne Shakespeare Society, he made aplea for the fuller recognition of the other dramatists of theElizabethan period. The lecture was published separately under thetitle,The Place of Shakespeare in Elizabethan Drama. He washimself writing plays about this time, and two of them wereproduced at Melbourne byMcMahon (q.v.);The Taintin 1915, andThe Superior Race in 1916. These were wellreceived, but have neither been revived since nor published in bookform. Oliphant was president of the Melbourne Shakespeare Societyfrom 1919 to 1921.

In 1925 Oliphant went to America, was appointed a lecturer atStanford university, California, and subsequently lectured on hisown special department at other leading universities in the UnitedStates. His most important work,The Plays of Beaumont andFletcher, An Attempt to determine their respective shares and theshares of others, was published by the Yale university press in1927. Two years later he brought out in New YorkShakespeare andhis Fellow Dramatists: A selection of plays illustrating theglories of the golden age of English drama. This was in twolarge volumes and included 15 plays by Shakespeare and 30 by otherdramatists, with introduction and notes on the writers of theplays. Oliphant was then associated with New York university. In1931 a one volume edition of this work was brought out with theplays by Shakespeare omitted, under the title ofElizabethanDramatists other than Shakespeare. Oliphant was back inMelbourne in 1932 and did some public lecturing and broadcasting.In this year he was appointedSidney Myer (q.v.) lecturer inElizabethan literature at the university of Melbourne, and heldthis position until his death at Melbourne on 20 April 1936. Hemarried in 1887 Catherine Lavinia, daughter of Peter McWhae, whosurvived him with two daughters.

Oliphant who had a genial nature with touches of cynicism, wasan admirable scholar, able, widely read, and thorough. To thesequalities he added humour and common sense, had the courage of hisopinions, and was always interesting.

The Argus, andThe Age, Melbourne, 22April 1936;The Herald, Melbourne, 21 April 1936. E. MorrisMiller,Australian Literature; Melbourne Public LibraryRecords;The English Catalogue;Who's Who inAustralia, 1935; personal knowledge.

O'LOGHLEN, SIR BRYAN (1828-1905), politician,

came of an ancient Irish family and was born on 27 June 1828,the fourth son of Sir Michael O'Loghlen, a well-known Irish judgewho was created a baronet in 1838. Educated at Oscott College,Birmingham, O'Loghlen first endeavoured to qualify as an engineer,but ultimately went to Trinity College, Dublin, to study law. Hegraduated B.A. in 1856 and in the same year was called to the Irishbar. He practised for five years in Ireland, and deciding then togo to Australia, arrived in Melbourne in January 1862. In 1863 hewas made a crown prosecutor and represented the crown in a largenumber of criminal cases until January 1877. In May 1877 he was acandidate for the legislative assembly at North Melbourne. He wasdefeated and in the same year, on the death of an elder brother,succeeded to the baronetcy.

He was immediately elected to the house of commons for CountyClare. In January 1878 he was a candidate at West Melbourne as asupporter ofGrahamBerry (q.v.), and though opposed by a leading conservative wonthe seat. On 27 March he was appointed attorney-general, and wasthe legal representative of the government during the stormystruggle between the two houses. From December 1878 to June 1879 hewas acting-premier while Berry was away on his mission to England.After the election held in July 1880 Berry formed a ministry ofwhich O'Loghlen was not a member, and in July 1881 the lattercarried a vote of no-confidence against him. His ministry announceda policy of "Peace, Progress, and Prosperity". His party, however,was not strong enough to be able to carry effective legislation,and in February 1883 O'Loghlen obtained a dissolution, but lost hisown seat at the election. He was out of politics for some yearsuntil in June 1888 he was elected for Belfast. In January 1893 hebecame attorney-general in theJ. B. Patterson (q.v.)ministry, lost his seat again, but was returned for Port Fairy andrepresented it until 1901. In 1903 he was an unsuccessful candidatefor the federal senate. He died on 31 October 1905. He married EllaSeward in 1863, who survived him with five sons and sixdaughters.

O'Loghlen was a man of high character who made and kept manyfriends. Not a great parliamentarian he took his duties seriously;he twice refused offers of a judgeship because it would have meanthis leaving politics. He had the courage of his convictions inopposing federation when the general feeling in Victoria wasstrongly in favour of it. For many years he was an important figurein Victorian politics.

The Argus andThe Age, Melbourne, 1November 1905; H. G. Turner,A History of the Colony, ofVictoria; P. S. Cleary,Australia's Debt to IrishNation-builders; P. Mennell,The Dictionary of AustralasianBiography.

O'REILLY, DOWELL PHILIP (1865-1923), poet and short story writer,

was born at Sydney on 18 July 1865. His father, the Rev. ThomasO'Reilly, was a well known clergyman of the Church of England, whocame of a family with many military and naval associations. (For anappreciation of Canon O'Reilly seeWorshipful Masters, by A.B. Piddington.) He married twice, his second wife being a MissSmith who came from a well-educated and artistic family. Their son,Dowell O'Reilly, was educated at Sydney Grammar School, and whenhis father died he assisted his mother in keeping a preparatoryschool for boys at Parramatta. In 1884 O'Reilly published a smallvolume,Australian Poems, by D. and in 1888 a larger volumeof verse,A "Pedlar's Pack". Both books are now extremelyrare. It has been stated that the author being disappointed at thewant of success of the second volume destroyed most of thecopies.

In 1894 O'Reilly was elected a member of the legislativeassembly for Parramatta and sat for four years. He moved the firstmotion in favour of women's suffrage carried in the New South Walesparliament, but was defeated at the 1898 election. He became amaster at his old school, the Sydney Grammar School, and continuedthere for 11 years. In 1910 he again stood for parliament, as aLabour candidate, but was defeated, and shortly afterwards obtaineda position in the federal public service. In 1913 he publishedTears and Triumph, an expanded short story rather than anovel, in which O'Reilly shows a penetrating knowledge of thefeminine view-point. It is a tragic little story, simply andbeautifully told, with a running commentary by the author on thephilosophy of sex. The book stands alone in Australian literature.O'Reilly had married in 1895 Eleanor McCulloch and there were threechildren of the marriage. During his wife's illness, which lastedfor many years, O'Reilly had a difficult and lonely life, which wasbrightened by a correspondence with a cousin in England whom he hadmet when she was a child. His father had taken him on a visit toEurope when he was 14. His cousin was too young at the time to haveany memory of him, but after the death of O'Reilly's wife in August1914, the letters gradually developed into love-letters and in June1917 they were married. These letters were collected, and publishedin 1927 under the title ofDowell O'Reilly From his Letters,an illuminating revelation of his interesting personality. In 1920O'Reilly made a small collection of his short stories from theSydneyBulletin and other periodicals, and published themunder the name ofFive Corners. He died after a shortillness at Leura in the Blue Mountains on 5 November 1923. He wassurvived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, afterwards MrsEleanor Dark, well known as a leading Australian novelist.

O'Reilly was witty, kindly, generously tolerant, and sensitive.Though he felt the drudgery of his days as a schoolmaster he had agood understanding of boys and gained their affection. Not longbefore his death he wrote of himself: "I am a failure; I haveattempted many things, writing, teaching, politics, drifted along,done just enough to live." This feeling of frustration and failurewas characteristic, but the verdict of posterity may be different.His early verse was seldom of more than average quality, but thelittle selection published in 1924 withTears and TriumphandFive Corners, under the title ofThe Prose and Verseof Dowell O'Reilly, shows him to be a poet, however limited inoutput and scope.Five Corners contains some of the bestAustralian short stories ever written. "His Photo on the wall" is amasterpiece in its mingling of humour and tragedy, and hisbeautiful little sketch, "Twilight" is a triumph in economy ofmeans. It must always be a regret that O'Reilly wrote so little,but this largely arose from his keen self-criticism. No pains weretoo great to be devoted to the work he was doing, and his sense ofartistry would not permit the use of a clumsy or inadequate word.To some degree this applied also to his talk, but he lacked aBoswell, and the charm of his conversation can never berecaptured.

Foreword,Dowell O'Reilly from his Letters;Preface,The Prose and Verse of Dowell O'Reilly; J. Le GayBrereton,Knocking Round, pp. 2 and 60;The SydneyMorning Herald, 7 November 1923;The Bookman, September1928.

O'REILLY, JOHN BOYLE (1844-1890), poet and novelist,

son of William David O'Reilly, was born near Drogheda, Ireland,on 28 June 1844. After experience as a journalist he enlisted inthe 10th Hussars in 1863, and attempted to obtain recruits for theFenian order of which he was a member. He was tried bycourt-martial and was sentenced to death in July 1866, a sentencesubsequently commuted to 20 years penal servitude. He was sent toWestern Australia in 1867 and arrived in January 1868. In February1869 he escaped from custody, was rowed out to sea, and was takenon board an American whaler,The Gazelle, of New Bedford. Hearrived in the United States on 23 November 1869 and immediatelyapplied to be naturalized. He became very well known in America,where for 15 years he was part proprietor and editor of thePilot, and did much writing and lecturing. HisSongs fromthe Southern Seas, publislied in 1873, has reminiscences of hislife in Australia. Other volumes of verse includedSongs,Legends and Ballads, 1878, 5th edition 1882;The Statues inthe Block, 1881;In Bohemia, 1886. His novel,Moondyne, is based on his experiences as a convict inWestern Australia, and is an able and interesting piece of work. Hewas also the author ofEthics of Boxing and Manly Sport. Hedied at Hull, Massachusetts, on to August 1890. He married Mary,daughter of John Murphy, who survived him with four daughters. HisComplete Poems and Speeches, was published in 1891.

O'Reilly was a devout, lovable man, who exercised much influenceamong his compatriots who had gone to America. Much of his earlyverse was of a popular nature, but at his best he is entitled to becalled a poet. It was unfortunate that so able and admirable a manshould have been sent to Australia as a convict, but the Britishgovernment was bound to resist attempts to foment treason in thearmy. In his later years O'Reilly was "an earnest advocate ofconstitutional agitation as the only way to Irish home rule".

The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XI;Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIV; E. MorrisMiller,Australian Literature; P. S. Cleary,Australia'sDebt to Irish Nation-builders. It was not possible to consultthe life by James Jeffrey Roche prefixed to O'Reilly's collectedpoems and speeches.

ORMOND, FRANCIS (1827-1889), philanthropist,

was born at Aberdeen, Scotland on 23 November 1827, the only sonof a captain in the merchant service. He was educated at Tyzack'sacademy, Liverpool, and was brought to Victoria in 1842 by hisfather. It had been intended that he should enter a merchant'soffice but, his father having purchased a small sheep station, theboy began to work on it. When he was only 19 years old he was giventhe management of it and several years of hard work followed. In1850, finding that the boys employed on the station were quiteuneducated, he formed a class among them, and succeeded in givingthem some elementary education. On 6 February 1851, Black Thursday,the fire passed through Ormond's run, and though some of the stockwere saved the place was practically burned out. This, however, wasa blessing in disguise as much of the station had been covered withthick scrub. When the rains came grass sprang up everywhere, andOrmond was able to sell the station at an advanced price and buybetter land. His position was now assured and on 23 November 1851he was married to Miss Greeves, daughter of Dr G. A. Greeves. Hecontinued his interest in education, and there being no school nearhis station, formed evening classes for the children of hisemployees. In 1855 with two others he founded at Skipton the firstagricultural and pastoral association in the district. He had beenmade a magistrate in 1853, and in 1858 had taken the depositions inthe case of the death of a hut-keeper. He had come to theconclusion that the death was accidental. Later on he was amazed toread in a newspaper that a certain David Healy had been foundguilty of the murder of the man, and was to be executed in two daystime. He ordered his two best horses to be brought and riding oneand leading the other started on the long journey to Melbourne. Hehad to cross the Little River in flood, but arrived in time, sawthe attorney-general, and succeeded in convincing him that Healywas innocent. A reprieve was granted and the man was eventuallyliberated. In 1860 he visited Europe and was much impressed with anappeal he heard from Dr Guthrie on behalf of ragged schools. On hisreturn he continued to prosper and to take an interest ineducation, and in 1872 made his first large subscription of £1000for the founding of a scholarship at the Presbyterian theologicalhall. Three years later he took a house in Melbourne and helped toestablish the Presbyterian Church at Toorak. In 1877 when thequestion of starting a college at the university was broughtforward, he attended the first meeting and subscribed £300 to thefund which was opened. Gradually he increased his promiseddonation, until it reached £10,000 with the proviso that a similarsum should be raised from other sources. During his lifetime hegave over £40,000 to the college, which was named after him, andthe benefactions after his death raised this to £111,970. On 6 July1881 his wife died. She had been a member of the Church of England,and remembering this Ormond anonymously gave £5000 towards thebuilding fund of St Paul's cathedral, Melbourne. In the same yearhe was a member of the royal commission to inquire into the workingof the education act. One result of this was his conviction that aworking men's college would serve a very useful purpose, and heintimated that if the government would provide a site he would give£5000 towards the building. He met with no encouragement, and thescheme was temporarily dropped. In January 1882 he was elected amember of the legislative council for the South Western Province.He never took a great part in politics but his occasional speecheswere always thoughtful. In May the question of a working men'scollege was revived. He again offered £5000 and, after somepreliminary difficulties had been disposed of, the college was atlast opened in June 1887. There were 320 students on the openingnight, within 12 months the number had risen to over 1000.Afterwards known as the Melbourne technical school, the number ofstudents reached nearly 10,000 in 1938.

About the end of 1884 Ormond suggested that a chair of musicshould be founded at Melbourne university, and offered to give£20,000 to the university council on condition that £3500 should beraised by the public for the endowment of scholarships. He visitedEurope in 1885 and collected much information relating to theworking of conservatoriums of music. During this trip he wasmarried to Miss Oliphant, daughter of Mr E. Oliphant, and returnedabout the end of the year. He found there was much difference ofopinion in Melbourne concerning the wisest way of using hisproposed donation, and very little response had come to the appealfor funds to found scholarships. However, the money was eventuallyraised and in May 1887 the Ormond chair of music at the universityof Melbourne was founded. In the following year Ormond's healthbegan to give way, and 0n 28 December 1888 he left for Europehoping the voyage might be of benefit. He died at Pau in southernFrance on 5 May 1889. His wife survived him. There were no childrenof either marriage. By his will in addition to the amount left toOrmond College £10,000 went to the Working Men's College, and about£60,000 was left to various hospitals and churches.

Ormond was a man of distinguished personal appearance, sincerelyreligious and modest, with a dislike of show. He spent little onhimself and considered his wealth as a responsibility. Other menhave given larger sums in Australia, but no other man has given thesame care and study in considering what was wisest. He always madeit a condition that other sums should be subscribed, but wouldlighten the conditions when difficulties were met with. In foundingthe Working Men's College he was in advance of his time; his wisdomhas been justified not only in its success but in the many othersimilar schools founded in the suburbs of Melbourne. A statue ofOrmond byPercival Ball(q.v.) stands by the Melbourne technical school.

C. Stuart Ross,Francis Ormond: Pioneer, Patriot,Philanthropist;The Argus, Melbourne, 8 May 1889; P.Mennell,The Dictionary of AustralasianBiography.

ORTON, ARTHUR (1834-1898), Tichborne claimant,

was born at Wapping, London, on 20 March 1834, the son of abutcher named George Orton. He left school early, was employed inhis father's shop, and in 1848 was apprenticed to a Captain Brooksof the shipOcean. The ship sailed to South America and inJune 1849 Orton deserted and went to the small Chilean town ofMelipilla. He stayed in Chile for a year and seven months, and thenwent back to London as an ordinary seaman. In November 1852 hesailed for Tasmania and arrived at Hobart in May 1853. He crossedto the mainland about two years later and worked for some time inVictoria. In 1862 he was at Wagga, New South Wales, under the nameof Thomas Castro, working as an assistant to a butcher.

In August 1865 an advertisement appeared in Australian papersasking for information about the fate of Roger Charles Tichbornewho had been on a vesselLa Bella which had disappeared atsea in 1854. This had been inserted by the mother of the missingman, Lady Tichborne, who believed that he was still alive. He had,however, been presumed dead and his brother had succeeded to theestates and the baronetcy. Orton convinced a Mr William Gibbes, asolicitor at Wagga, that he was the missing heir. He made some badblunders in giving details of his early life, but was asked to cometo England, and left Sydney on 22 September 1866. He met LadyTichborne in Paris who recognized him as her son. There appears tohave been little resemblance between the two men. Others becameconvinced too, and Orton later obtained much financial support inprosecuting his claim. The legal proceedings were long drawn outand in March 1872 Orton was non-suited in his action for therecovery of the estates, and the presiding judge stated that in hisopinion the plaintiff had been guilty of perjury. He was arrestedand after a trial of 188 days found guilty on 28 February 1874. Thejury also found that the defendant was not Roger Tichborne and thathe was Arthur Orton. He was sentenced to 14 years penal servitude,but having been a model prisoner, was released some 10 years later.He endeavoured to press his claims again but gradually lost hisfollowing, and in 1895 purported to make a confession of his fraudswhich appeared in thePeople. He afterwards repudiated thisand continued to use the name of Sir Roger Tichborne. He died on 1April 1898.

Orton was quite an uneducated, shrewd scoundrel, who seized onany information he could gather about his supposed early life, andshowed some ability in the use of it. It is possible to understandLady Tichborne recognizing him as her son for it had become a fixedidea with her that he was still alive, and though Orton had becomeenormously fat he had the remains of what had once been good looks.More remarkable was the devotion of his last council, Dr Kenealy,and a large number of people who backed him with their money andinfluence.

Lord Maugham,The Tichborne Case, Charge of the LordChief Justice of England. W. A. F.,An Exposure of the OrtonConfession of the Tichborne Claimant; J. B. Atlay,FamousTrials of the Century.

O'SHANASSY, SIR JOHN (1818-1883), three times premier of Victoria,

was born near Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland, in 1818, the son ofDenis O'Shanassy, a land surveyor. His father dying when he was 13,O'Shanassy had little schooling and went to Melbourne in 1839. Hetried farming for a few years, returned to Melbourne, was electedto the city council, in 1845 opened a draper's shop inElizabeth-street, and conducted it for about 10 years with success.In 1851 he was elected a member of the legislative council forMelbourne, and became recognized as a leading member of theopposition. He advocated manhood suffrage, opposed the propertyqualification, and did his best to have the land opened up forsettlement. In December 1854 he supported the government at apublic meeting held in Melbourne at the time of the Eurekastockade, but in the same month succeeded in carrying a motion inthe council, cutting down the proposed expenditure for the comingyear from £4,582,000 to an amount not more than the estimatedrevenue of £2,400,000. He was already taking a prominent positionamong the Irish members of the community, and led the deputation towelcomeCharles Gavan Duffy(q.v.) when he arrived in Melbourne in January 1856. With theestablishment of responsible government O'Shanassy was elected amember of the legislative assembly for Kilmore. He was offered thetreasurership inHaines' (q.v.) ministry butdeclined it. He sat in opposition, and on 3 March 1857 carried anadverse vote against the government. He had considerable difficultyin forming a ministry, and three of its members on going to thecountry were defeated. The ministry lasted only a few weeks and wasdisplaced at the end of April. W. C. Haines became premier againand O'Shanassy leader of the opposition. In March 1858 he waspremier for the second time, and succeeded in passing an actincreasing the number of the members of the legislative assembly to78 and also widening the franchise. After an election had been heldO'Shanassy found himself hopelessly in a minority, and wassucceeded byWilliamNicholson (q.v.) in October 1859. O'Shanassy again came intopower in November 1861 with a strong ministry which passed theDuffy (q.v.) land act, and acivil service act which classified salaries and arranged promotionon definite principles. Other legislation of importance included acommon schools act, and theTorrens (q.v.) transfer of realestate act. The government was defeated in June 1863 and O'Shanassynever held office again. In 1865 he was seriously ill and in 1866visited Europe where he was created a knight of the Order of StGregory the Great by Pope Pius IX. He returned in August 1867,entered the upper house, and was virtual leader of the house. Hemade more than one attempt to re-enter the assembly and wasdefeated, but in 1877 was elected for Belfast, and sat inopposition toBerry(q.v.). He was a supporter ofJames Service (q.v.) when hebecame premier in March 1880, but O'Shanassy's defection a fewmonth's later caused the downfall of the government. It wasexpected that there would be a coalition between Berry andO'Shanassy, but they could not agree on the allotment of portfoliosand the latter went into opposition. He was defeated at the nextelection and died a few weeks later on 5 May 1883. He married in1839 Margaret McDonnell who survived him with sons and daughters.He was created a K.C.M.G. in 1874.

O'Shanassy was a good speaker, with some knowledge of finance,and was extremely ambitious; he was premier three times but neverheld any other office. A sincerely religious man of fine character,he was for some time the recognized leader of his compatriots andco-religionists, and it was greatly to his credit that hesystematically adjured his followers to remember that they wereAustralians, and that the importing of old world agitations woulddo no good and cause much ill-feeling. He was a striking and strongpersonality in the early days of political life in Victoria.

The Argus andThe Age, Melbourne, 7 May1883; H. G. Turner,A History of the Colony of Victoria; P.Mennell,The Dictionary of AustralasianBiography.

O'SULLIVAN, EDWARD WILLIAM (1846-1910), politician,

was born in Tasmania on 17 March 1846. His father died when hewas a child, and O'Sullivan began work at an early age as aprinter's devil on the HobartMercury. Later on he became areporter, in 1869 went to Sydney, but soon returned to Hobart andstarted a paper, theTribune. This had some success butO'Sullivan sold it in 1873, went to Melbourne, and did journalisticwork. He was editor of theSt Arnaud Mercury for about threeyears, before going to Sydney in 1882, and for about a year wasoverseer in theDaily Telegraph office. He took a prominentpart in union circles and became president of the typographicalunion. In 1882 he was a candidate for the legislative assembly atWest Sydney but was defeated, and in 1885 was defeated for SouthSydney. He was, however, returned for Queanbeyan a few days later,and held the seat for about 18 years. In September 1899 he becameminister for public works in theLyne (q.v.) ministry, and held thesame position whenSee(q.v.) became premier until the ministry was defeated in June 1904.O'Sullivan was a most vigorous minister and was responsible for agreat development of the tramway system, for the building of manynew railways, and for many other public works in connexion withwater-supply, roads, rivers, harbours and buildings, including thenew Sydney railway station. He held office for a few weeks in theWaddell (q.v.) ministryin 1904 as secretary for lands, but possibly from failing healthwas less prominent in politics win his later years. He, however,did good work as an alderman of the city of Sydney, andrepresenting Belmore for six years was a useful member of theassembly. He died at Sydney after a protracted illness on 25 April1910. He married and left a widow, two sons and threedaughters.

O'Sullivan was an optimistic man, full of generous qualities,more interested in doing things for other people than for himself.This was recognized by his constituents, who towards the end of hislife twice raised testimonials for him and enabled him to buyhimself a home. He was widely read, was a capable journalist, andalso wrote a dramaCooee which was produced at Sydney withsome success. He published during the 1890sEsperanza: a Tale ofThree Colonies, and in 1906,Under the Southern Cross:Australian Sketches, Stories and Speeches. As a politician hehad strong Labour sympathies before the Labour party had developedin New South Wales, and worked untiringly for old-age pensionsuntil they became law in 1900. He was much criticized for hissupposed extravagance as minister for public works; at the time itseemed with reason, as the state was suffering from drought forpart of the period. Possibly, however, he was wise in realizing thenecessity of keeping people at work in times of depression. He wascertainly right in his efforts to provide Sydney with a propersupply of water, and his efforts to relieve unemployment bydeveloping the tramway and railway systems, showed him as a man ofgreat foresight and courage.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 and 27 April 1910;The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, 26 April 1910; P. S. Cleary,Australia's Debt to Irish Nation-builders; E. Morris Miller,Australian Literature.

OXLEY, JOHN JOSEPH WILLIAM MOLESWORTH (1783-1828), he used onlyhis first Christian name, explorer, [ also refer toJohn OXLEY page at Project GutenbergAustralia]

was the eldest son of John and Isabella Oxley. His father was oflanded stock, his mother was a daughter of Viscount Molesworth. Hewas born at Kirkham Abbey near Westow, Yorkshire, in 1783, andentered the navy when he was 16. He arrived in Sydney in October1802 as master's mate of theBuffalo, and was promoted tosecond lieutenant in 1805. He returned to England in 1807, wasappointed first lieutenant of thePorpoise, and rejoined herin 1808. Two years later he was again in England and on 1 January1812 was appointed surveyor-general of lands in New South Wales. InApril 1815 he was withMacquarie (q.v.) when Bathurstwas founded, and in March 1817 he was instructed to take charge ofan expedition to ascertain the course of the Lachlan River. He lefton 6 April withG. W. Evans(q.v.) as second in command, andAllan Cunningham (q.v.) asbotanist. Bathurst was reached on the fourteenth, but they weredetained there by bad weather for five days. The Macquarie Riverwas reached on 25 April and its course was followed for severaldays, part of the stores being conveyed in boats. Much of thecountry was found to be swampy, and on 9 May the way was barred bya huge marsh. Retracing their steps for some distance they thenproceeded in a south-westerly direction, and on 20 May foundthemselves in very dry country. Hardly any water was available andwhat was found had to be boiled twice before it was drinkable. Forthe next five weeks dense scrubby country was constantlyencountered and there was a great shortage of water. One of thehorses died and another had to be shot. It rained several times butthis gave them little water; Oxley says in his journal that thesoil absorbed all the rain that fell like a sponge. On 23 June theLachlan was reached and found to be about 30 feet broad and runningfreely. The course of the river was followed for a fortnight, muchmarshy country was crossed, and on 7 July Oxley was "forced to cometo the conclusion that the interior of this vast country is a marshand uninhabitable". After resting for two days a turn to the eastwas made and Bathurst was eventually reached on 29 August.

The results of Oxley's first expedition were disappointing, buthe was hopeful of having better success by following up theMacquarie River. At the end of May 1818 he led a second expeditionfrom Bathurst and again had the assistance of Evans. Afterfollowing the river for about five weeks it was found that it wasrunning into an ocean of reeds, so a halt was called and Evans wentto the north-east to test the country in that direction. Hereturned on 18 July and reported that he had found a new river,which was named the Castlereagh. Their way lay alternately throughscrub and marsh and progress was slow. Early in August they foundgood pastoral country, the Liverpool Plains, and the journey becameeasier. On 2 September on climbing a mountain they saw the sea, andfinding a river, which was named the Hastings, they made their wayto Port Macquarie. Turning south down the coast a difficult journeywas made to Port Stephens, where they arrived on 1 November 1818.Oxley published in 1820 hisJournals of Two Expeditions into theInterior of New South Wales, a translation of which in Dutchappeared in the following year.

After two or three pieces of minor exploration work Oxley leftSydney in October 1823 instructed to examine and report on thesuitability of Port Curtis, Moreton Bay, and Port Bowen, as sitesfor convict settlements. He arrived at Port Curtis on 5 Novemberand after carefully examining it reported against it. He thenturned to the south, entered Moreton Bay on 29 November, and threedays later discovered the Brisbane River. He was helped in doingthis by two white men who had been wrecked on the coast some monthsbefore and were kindly treated by the aborigines. Oxley went some50 miles up the river, and was much impressed by the country whichincluded the site of Brisbane. As a result of his recommendations asettlement was begun there shortly afterwards. In March 1823 hereceived an increase in his salary of £91 5s. a year inconsideration of his increased duties, and in January 1824 he wasappointed a member of the newly formed legislative council. In thefollowing year a dispatch from Earl Bathurst requested thatBrisbane would conveyto Oxley his "approbation of the zeal and intelligence with whichhe appears to have performed the important duties confided to him".This had special reference to his last expedition. In October 1826the new governor,Darling,mentioned that he had sentW. H. Hovell (q.v.) to reporton Western Port because Oxley could not be spared from his dutiesin Sydney. His health became impaired about this time, and in March1828 Major, afterwards Sir,Thomas L. Mitchell (q.v.) hadto be placed in charge of his department. He died at his countryhouse near Sydney on 26 May 1828. He married a Miss Norton whosurvived him with two sons.

Oxley was an excellent public servant and explorer. He was notafraid to take risks, but he knew how to husband the strength ofboth his horses and the members of his party. He never lost a man,though his own health suffered. He was unable to solve the riddleof the rivers, which appeared to lose themselves in marshes, but headded much valuable land to the known territory of his time.

Historical Records of Australia, ser. I, vols. Vto XIV; E. C. Rowland,Journal and Proceedings Royal AustralianHistorical Society, vol. XXVIII, pp. 249-72; E. Favenc,TheExplorers of Australia; J. H. Heaton,Australian Dictionaryof Dates.

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