AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF DATES AND 392/11 MEN OF THE TIME: CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALASIA FROM 1542 TO MAY, 1879; GEORGE ROBERTSON, 125, NEW PITT-STREET, AND AT MELBOURNE AND ADELAIDE. 1879. PREFACE. IN presenting "THE AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF DATES AND MEN OF THE TIME" to the public, the Compiler would observe that more than six years of continuous labour have been devoted to the Work, which he trusts will be found-adapting the language of its great English prototype "a compilation and compression of the greatest body of general information about Australia that has ever appeared in a single volume." It has been sought to embody in a lasting form a digested summary of every branch of Australian history, brought down to the eve of publication; and it is confidently hoped that the following pages will be found to contain something far more valuable than a mere "Dictionary of Dates," preserving, as they do, innumerable facts of interest and importance, never published in any previous work of reference upon the Australian Colonies. It would be strange indeed if the critics should find it impossible to discover inaccuracies and omissions in an initial work of this kind, which chronicles so many thousands of dates and occurrences, but the Compiler has taken the utmost care to reduce the errors to a minimum ; and he respectfully asks his subscribers and readers to be so good as to bring under his notice at their earliest convenience any defects which they may discover, so that these may be attended to in a Supplementary Edition. In conclusion, the Compiler desires to return his thanks for the invaluable assistance he has received; but he is indebted to so many for information of the highest value that he will not attempt to offer more than a general but most grateful acknowledgment. J. HENNIKER HEATON. Sydney, May, 1879. THE AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF DATES, AND MEN OF THE TIME. PART I. MEN OF THE TIME. A'BECKETT, ARTHUR MARTIN, F.R.C.S., born in London; was educated at the London University and at Paris. He was then Staff Surgeon to the British Legion in Spain. He arrived in Sydney in 1838, and for many years practised his profession in New South Wales with great success. For several years before he left the colony (in 1858), he was a Member of the Legislative Council. He returned to Sydney in 1865; and died in 1871, aged 59. A'BECKETT, HON. THOMAS TURNER, was born September 13, 1808, and educated at Westminster School. Having been admitted as a solicitor, he practised with success for about twenty years in England, when, desiring to see his brother the late Sir William A'Beckett, Chief Justice of Victoria, he came out in January, 1851. Next year he entered the Legislative Council, and in 1857 became Registrar of the Church of England diocese of Melbourne. He still retains his seat for the Central Province. He voted against a portion of the grant in aid of public worship being given to the Jews, and against the abolition of State-aid to religion; also, against the ballot. He was Commissioner of Customs B under Sir James M'Culloch, and was Chairman of the Hobson's Bay Railway Company until it passed into the hands of the Victorian Government. A'BECKETT, SIR WILLIAM, was born in London July 28, 1806. He was educated at Westminster School, and called to the Bar in 1829. He came out to New South Wales and was appointed Solicitor-General in 1841, and was made a Judge of the Supreme Court for the District of Port Phillip in 1846. In 1851, when separation took place, he was appointed Chief Justice of Victoria. He died, June 27, 1869. ADAMS, PHILIP FRANCIS, was born at Womill Hall, county Suffolk, in 1828. In 1838, his family removed to Strongford, in the north of Ireland; was educated partly at home and partly at the Belfast Academical and Collegiate Institution. In 1848, though scarcely 20 years of age, he was entrusted with business as a land surveyor; but, in consequence of the potato famine of 1847 and subsequent years, business fell off, and he emigrated to Canada in 1851; for two years was engaged in the United States, but not being a citizen he was not eligible for government employment, |