Edward John Eyre
| Edward John Eyre | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Governor of Jamaica | |
| In office 1862–1865 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Henry Darling |
| Succeeded by | Henry Knight Storks |
| Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster, New Zealand | |
| In office 1848–1853 | |
| Governor | George Grey |
| Preceded by | None, position established |
| Succeeded by | None, position abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 August 1815 Whipsnade, England, UK |
| Died | 30 November 1901 (aged 86) Yorkshire, England, UK |
| Occupation | Explorer of Australia, Colonial Administrator, Grazier |
Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 – 30 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica.
South Australia's Lake Eyre, Eyre Peninsula, Eyre Creek, Eyre Highway (the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia), Edward John Eyre High School and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla, and the electoral district of Eyre in Western Australia, are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton and West Eyreton in Canterbury and the Eyre Mountains and Eyre Creek in Southland, New Zealand.
Early life
Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea, Yorkshire, where he was christened.[1] His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton).[2] After completing grammar school at Louth and Sedbergh, he moved to Sydney rather than join the army or go to university. He gained experience in the new land by boarding with and forming friendships with prominent gentlemen and became a flock owner when he bought 400 lambs a month before his 18th birthday.<ref oepplinger">Kevin Koepplinger. "Hero and Tyrant:Edward John Eyre's Legacy".</ref> When South Australia was founded, Eyre brought 1,000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from Monaro, New South Wales to Adelaide and sold them for a large profit.
South Australian expeditions
With this money, Eyre set out to explore the interior of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the Flinders Ranges and west to beyond Ceduna.
Eyre, together with his Aboriginal companion Wylie, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain by land in 1840-1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to Albany, Western Australia. He had originally led the expedition with John Baxter and three aborigines. On 29 April 1841 two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they chanced to encounter, at a bay near Esperance, Western Australia, a French whaling ship Mississippi, under the command of an Englishman, Captain Thomas Rossiter, for whom Eyre named the location Rossiter Bay.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and Aborigines along the Murray River.
Colonial Governor
From 1848 to 1853, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster Province in New Zealand under Sir George Grey.[3] He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of the politician John Davies Ormond.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean island colonies.
Colonial Governor in Jamaica
As Governor of the Colony, Eyre, fearful of an island wide uprising, brutally suppressed the Morant Bay Rebellion, and had many black peasants killed. Hundreds were flogged. He also authorised the execution of George William Gordon, a mixed-race colonial assemblyman who was suspected of involvement in the rebellion.
These events created great controversy in Britain, resulting in demands for Eyre to be arrested and tried for murdering Gordon. John Stuart Mill organised the Jamaica Committee, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals (such as John Bright, Charles Darwin, Frederic Harrison, Thomas Hughes, Thomas Huxley, John Tyndall, and Herbert Spencer). A rival committee was set up by Thomas Carlyle for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included John Ruskin, Charles Kingsley, Charles Dickens and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Twice Eyre was charged with murder, but the cases never proceeded.
The case went to the UK Court of Exchequer as Phillips v Eyre (1870) LR 6 QB 1, Exchequer Chamber. The case was influential in setting a precedent in English and Australian law over the conflict of laws, and choice of law to be applied in international torts cases.[4]
Later life
Eyre's legal expenses were covered by the British government in 1872, and in 1874 he was granted the pension of a retired colonial governor. He lived out the remainder of his life at Walreddon Manor in the parish of Whitchurch near Tavistock, Devon, where he died on 30 November 1901. He is buried in the Whitchurch churchyard.[2]
Recognition
Eyre Peninsula and Lake Eyre were named after him, a statue of Eyre is in Victoria Square in Adelaide, and in 1970 he was honoured on a postage stamp bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post .
See also
Notes
- ↑ Steve Pocock (2000). "History". Great Australian Bight Safaris. Retrieved 2006-04-08.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Geoffrey Dutton, 'Eyre, Edward John (1815–1901)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University accessed 14 May 2013. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966
- ↑ Standish, Michael Wordsworth. "Eyre, Edward John". The 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Te Ara. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
- ↑ G. Dutton, In Search of Edward John Eyre (1982, MacMillan), 115-42; J Michener, Caribbean (1989, Random House), 402-42
References
- Geoffrey Dutton, (1967) The hero as murderer : the life of Edward John Eyre, Australian explorer and Governor of Jamaica 1815-1901 Sydney : Collins ; Melbourne : Cheshire, (paperback reprint: Penguin, 1977).
- Catherine Hall, (2002) Civilising Subjects: Colony and Metropoloe in the English Imagination, 1830-1867. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Further reading
- Dutton, Geoffrey (1982) In search of Edward John Eyre South Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-33841-3
External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: Edward John Eyre |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward John Eyre. |
- Short biography
- Eyre's Journals from his 1840/1 expedition
- Works by Edward John Eyre at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Edward John Eyre at Internet Archive
- Biography in 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Graves MacDonnell |
Lieutenant Governor of Saint Vincent 1854–1861 |
Succeeded by Anthony Musgrave |
| Preceded by Charles Henry Darling |
Governor of Jamaica 1862–1864 (acting); 1864–1865 |
Succeeded by Sir Henry Knight Storks |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by John Murray |
Clarke Medal 1901 |
Succeeded by Frederick Manson Bailey |
|