William Henry Walsh JP (18 December 1823 – 5 April 1888) was an Australian pioneer pastoralist or squatter and politician in early Queensland.[1] He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1859-1859, Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1865–1878, and a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council 1879–1888. He was the Queensland Minister of the Crown 1870–1873, Speaker in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 6 January 1874 to 20 July 1876.
William Henry Walsh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) W. H. Walsh about 1860 | |
| Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 6 January 1874 – 20 July 1876 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick Forbes |
| Succeeded by | Henry King |
| Constituency | Warrego |
| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Leichhardt | |
| In office 15 June 1859 – 10 December 1859 | |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Maryborough | |
| In office 1 February 1865 – 4 November 1873 | |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Berkeley Moreton |
| Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Warrego | |
| In office 4 November 1873 – 12 December 1878 | |
| Preceded by | Archibald Buchanan |
| Succeeded by | Ernest Stevens |
| Member of the Queensland Legislative Council | |
| In office 20 February 1879 – 5 April 1888 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Henry Walsh 18 December 1823 Milton, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 5 April 1888 (aged 64) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Resting place | Toowong Cemetery |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Brown (b.1828 m.1857 d.1913) |
| Children | Kathleen Maude Walsh, Eliza Walsh, Western Walsh, Alfred Degilbo Walsh, Hilda Walsh, William Walsh & Nugent Walsh |
| Occupation | Squatter, Investor |
Early life
editWalsh was supposedly born on 18 December 1823 at Milton, Berkshire, England, son of a solicitor, Charles Walsh, and his wife Elizabeth.
Pastoralist in New South Wales and Queensland
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2022) |
He migrated to Australia on the Mary Sharp arriving 11 June 1844, afterwards gaining a few years of colonial experience working for David Perrier at Bathurst. He then went north to begin a squatting career of his own. In early 1847 he set up, for his former employer, a new station on the Macintyre River in the south-eastern part of the territory of the future Queensland. Shortly thereafter he went into the northern 'unknown' with men and a large flock of sheep financed by the Sydney-based Griffith, Fanning & Co. He subsequently formed the Degilbo and Monduran stations near the present day township of Gayndah in the North Burnett.
During this time, he witnessed the murder of settlers by local Indigenouse people and almost was killed himself.[2][3] In 1850, following the murder of settler Gregory Blaxland, Walsh participated in a massacre of indigenous people on Paddy's Island,[4] details of which he would give during Queensland parliamentary debate several decades later.[5]
Working still for the same company, of which he had then become a co-proprietor, Walsh went further north in July 1853. During this venture he and his men made their mark on Queensland history as the first whites to 'blaze the track' of what is now the section of Bruce Highway between Degilbo in the Burnett to the Boyne Valley at Port Curtis, now Gladstone. Here Walsh formed yet another sheep station which he named Milton, allegedly after his birthplace or childhood home.
On 20 February 1857 at Parramatta, New South Wales, he married the Danish-born (yet Scottish and English descended) Elizabeth Brown (1828–1913), daughter of the Copenhagen-born merchant, John Brown (proprietor of Coulston House, Paterson River, from 1829 to 1837 the proprietor of the North Zeeland situated Kokkedal Castle in Denmark).[6]
Afterwards he settled initially as the part owner, later sole proprietor of the vast Monduran and Degilbo stations, setting up the latter as a domicile for himself and his growing family.
Political life
editThis section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2022) |
He was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1859,[7] Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1865 to 1878, and a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council, from 1879 to 1888. He was the Queensland Minister of the Crown from 1870 to 1873, Speaker in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 6 January 1874 to 20 July 1876.[8]
Walsh was arguably the most conspicuous and outspoken Tory-conservative politicians in northern New South Wales and Queensland in the period up to the 1870s.
He is today best known for his two decade long strong-worded opposition to the Queensland's Native Police Force and the lack of protection of indigenous people in Queensland, a position which brought him into conflict with Queensland's first Governor Sir George Ferguson Bowen and a number of other Queensland graziers.
In parliament on 4 October 1867 the then minister for police "Colonial Secretary" (later Queensland Premier), Arthur Hunter Palmer, brought an end to Walsh decade long crusade by ironically defending Walsh "perfect right to...pursue his monomania on the subject to any extent he pleased."
Walsh is equally well known for his defence for the Queensland's sugar industry and its use of Melanesians, so-called Kanaka, labour and dismissal that the accusation of this as slavery was anything more than working-class prejudices.
Later life
editOn 4 April 1888, he was walking from his home in Bulimba towards the Brisbane CBD along Shaftson Road. As he passed the ropeworks, he was hit by a parcel delivery van driver and was knocked unconscious and died the following day (5 April 1888).[9] He was buried in Toowong Cemetery.[10]
Named in his honour
editA number of Queensland places were named after him:
- the Walsh River[11]
- the Shire of Walsh (previously the Walsh Division)[12]
- Mount Walsh which is now in the Mount Walsh National Park
- Walshs Pyramid[13]
References
edit- ^ "Government Gazette Appointments and Employment". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 99. New South Wales, Australia. 15 October 1852. p. 1501. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "REMINISCENCES OF ANOTHER WIDE BAY PIONEER". Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay And Burnett Advertiser. No. 901. Queensland, Australia. 14 May 1870. p. 2. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "REMINISCENCES OF ANOTHER WIDE BAY PIONEER". Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay And Burnett Advertiser. No. 905. Queensland, Australia. 24 May 1870. p. 2. Retrieved 11 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Nolan, Janette Gay (1 January 1978), A history of Bundaberg, 1840-1920, The University of Queensland, School of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics, pp. 34–44, retrieved 11 March 2024
- ^ Clem Lack ‘One hundred years young: Bundaberg, the city of charm, 1867–1967' 56 pages publ. Bundaberg 'News-Mail' 23 May 1967.
- ^ "Family Notices". The Moreton Bay Courier. Brisbane. 7 March 1857. p. 2. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2014 – via Trove.
- ^ "Mr William Henry Walsh (1823–1888)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
- ^ "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
- ^ "Death of the Hon. W.H. Walsh". The Queenslander. 7 April 1888. p. 528. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2014 – via Trove.
- ^ "Brisbane City Council – Online – Grave Location Search". Brisbane City Council. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ "Walsh River (entry 36381)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ^ "Walsh Shire". Queensland Places. Centre for the Government of Queensland, University of Queensland. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ "Walshs Pyramid (entry 36384)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
Further reading
edit- Ørsted-Jensen: Robert: The Right To Live – the Troubled Conscience of an Australian Journalist (yet unpublished thesis and manuscript)
External links
edit- Denholm, David; H. J. Gibbney. "Walsh, William Henry (1823–1888)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.