Edward John Eyre
Encyclopedia
Edward John Eyre was an English
land explorer of the Australia
n 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
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
and West Eyreton
in Canterbury
, New Zealand
.
, Bedfordshire
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
, Yorkshire
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). 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. 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.
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. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
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
.
under Sir George Grey
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
island colonies.
, 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.
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 30 November 1901) was an English
land explorer of the Australia
n 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
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
and West Eyreton
in Canterbury
, New Zealand
.
, Bedfordshire
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
, Yorkshire
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). 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. 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.
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. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
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
.
under Sir George Grey
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
island colonies.
, 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.
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 30 November 1901) was an English
land explorer of the Australia
n 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
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
and West Eyreton
in Canterbury
, New Zealand
.
, Bedfordshire
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
, Yorkshire
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). 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. 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.
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. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
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
.
under Sir George Grey
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
island colonies.
, 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.
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
land explorer of the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
's Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia and 18th largest in the world...
, Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
, Eyre Creek, Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
(the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
Eyreton
Eyreton, originally known as Eyretown, is a small village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after Edward John Eyre, who at one time was the lieutenant governor of the South Island...
and West Eyreton
West Eyreton
West Eyreton is a small rural village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located west of Kaiapoi and northwest of Eyreton and is named after Edward John Eyre, a 19th century lieutenant governor of the South Island...
in Canterbury
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Early life
Eyre was born in WhipsnadeWhipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.5 miles South-South-West of Dunstable...
, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
Hornsea
Hornsea is a small seaside resort, town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England at the eastern end of the Trans Pennine Trail.-Overview:According to the 2001 UK Census, Hornsea parish had a population of 8,243....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). After completing grammar school at Louth
Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
and Sedbergh
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
, he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
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. When South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
was founded, Eyre brought 1,000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro is the name of a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro, whilst the Australian Capital Territory is frequently considered part of the region: most towns have very close links with...
to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and sold them for a large profit.
South Australian expeditions
Eyre's 1839 expeditions
Edward John Eyre's two expeditions of 1839 to the interior of South Australia were his first expeditions as an explorer, if one discounts the two earlier trips he made down the Murray River to Adelaide, herding cattle and then sheep.-North:...
of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts approximately north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna...
and west to beyond Ceduna
Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port...
.
Eyre, together with his Aboriginal companion Wylie
Wylie (person)
Wylie was an indigenous Australian originally from the tribes around Albany in Western Australia. He accompanied Edward John Eyre to Adelaide by sea in May 1840, and would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill...
, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
and the Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
by land in 1840-1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
. He had originally led the expedition with John Baxter
John Baxter (explorer)
John Baxter was a friend and companion of Edward John Eyre on his crossing of the Nullarbor Plain in 1840-1841. When the party was low on supplies and in desperate need of water, near the coast south of present-day Caiguna in Nuytsland National Park, Baxter was murdered by Yarry and Joey, two of...
and three aborigines. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay is located on the southern coast of Western Australia, in the Cape Le Grand National Park east of Esperance. The bay is noted as the place where explorer Edward John Eyre and his Aboriginal companion Wylie met the crew of the French whaling ship Mississippi in June 1841, having...
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and Aborigines along the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
.
Colonial Governor
From 1848 to 1853, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster Province in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
under Sir George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
John Davies Ormond
John Davies Ormond was a New Zealand politician whose positions included Superintendent of Hawke's Bay Province, Minister of Public Works and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council....
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island colonies.
Colonial Governor in Jamaica
As Governor of the Colony, Eyre, fearful of an island wide uprising, brutally suppressed the Morant Bay RebellionMorant Bay rebellion
The Morant Bay rebellion began on October 11, 1865, when Paul Bogle led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay, parish of St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political...
, and had many black peasants killed. Hundreds were flogged. He also authorised the execution of George William Gordon
George William Gordon
George William Gordon, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican businessman and politician. On the centenary of his death, he was proclaimed a National Hero of Jamaica. Gordon was the 2nd of 7 children born to a white planter, Joseph Gordon and a mulatto slave, Ann Rattray in April 1815 although...
, 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
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
organised the Jamaica Committee
Jamaica Committee
The Jamaica Committee was a group set up in 1866, which called for Edward Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects , under the rule of law...
, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals
(such as John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison was a British jurist and historian.Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison, a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexander Brice, a Belfast granite merchant. He was baptised at St...
, Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, John Tyndall
John Tyndall
John Tyndall FRS was a prominent Irish 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...
, and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
). A rival committee was set up by Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
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
Phillips v Eyre
Phillips v Eyre, LR 6 QB 1 is a famous English decision on the conflict of laws in tort. The Court developed a two prong test for determining whether a tort occurring outside of the court's jurisdiction can be actionable.-Facts:...
(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.
Recognition
In 1970 he was honoured on a postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
Further reading
- Dutton, Geoffrey (1982) In search of Edward John Eyre South Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0333338413
External links
- Short biography
- Eyre's Journals from his 1840/1 expedition
- Biography in 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 30 November 1901) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
land explorer of the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
's Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia and 18th largest in the world...
, Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
, Eyre Creek, Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
(the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
Eyreton
Eyreton, originally known as Eyretown, is a small village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after Edward John Eyre, who at one time was the lieutenant governor of the South Island...
and West Eyreton
West Eyreton
West Eyreton is a small rural village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located west of Kaiapoi and northwest of Eyreton and is named after Edward John Eyre, a 19th century lieutenant governor of the South Island...
in Canterbury
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Early life
Eyre was born in WhipsnadeWhipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.5 miles South-South-West of Dunstable...
, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
Hornsea
Hornsea is a small seaside resort, town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England at the eastern end of the Trans Pennine Trail.-Overview:According to the 2001 UK Census, Hornsea parish had a population of 8,243....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). After completing grammar school at Louth
Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
and Sedbergh
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
, he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
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. When South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
was founded, Eyre brought 1,000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro is the name of a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro, whilst the Australian Capital Territory is frequently considered part of the region: most towns have very close links with...
to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and sold them for a large profit.
South Australian expeditions
Eyre's 1839 expeditions
Edward John Eyre's two expeditions of 1839 to the interior of South Australia were his first expeditions as an explorer, if one discounts the two earlier trips he made down the Murray River to Adelaide, herding cattle and then sheep.-North:...
of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts approximately north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna...
and west to beyond Ceduna
Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port...
.
Eyre, together with his Aboriginal companion Wylie
Wylie (person)
Wylie was an indigenous Australian originally from the tribes around Albany in Western Australia. He accompanied Edward John Eyre to Adelaide by sea in May 1840, and would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill...
, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
and the Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
by land in 1840-1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
. He had originally led the expedition with John Baxter
John Baxter (explorer)
John Baxter was a friend and companion of Edward John Eyre on his crossing of the Nullarbor Plain in 1840-1841. When the party was low on supplies and in desperate need of water, near the coast south of present-day Caiguna in Nuytsland National Park, Baxter was murdered by Yarry and Joey, two of...
and three aborigines. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay is located on the southern coast of Western Australia, in the Cape Le Grand National Park east of Esperance. The bay is noted as the place where explorer Edward John Eyre and his Aboriginal companion Wylie met the crew of the French whaling ship Mississippi in June 1841, having...
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and Aborigines along the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
.
Colonial Governor
From 1848 to 1853, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster Province in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
under Sir George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
John Davies Ormond
John Davies Ormond was a New Zealand politician whose positions included Superintendent of Hawke's Bay Province, Minister of Public Works and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council....
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island colonies.
Colonial Governor in Jamaica
As Governor of the Colony, Eyre, fearful of an island wide uprising, brutally suppressed the Morant Bay RebellionMorant Bay rebellion
The Morant Bay rebellion began on October 11, 1865, when Paul Bogle led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay, parish of St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political...
, and had many black peasants killed. Hundreds were flogged. He also authorised the execution of George William Gordon
George William Gordon
George William Gordon, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican businessman and politician. On the centenary of his death, he was proclaimed a National Hero of Jamaica. Gordon was the 2nd of 7 children born to a white planter, Joseph Gordon and a mulatto slave, Ann Rattray in April 1815 although...
, 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
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
organised the Jamaica Committee
Jamaica Committee
The Jamaica Committee was a group set up in 1866, which called for Edward Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects , under the rule of law...
, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals
(such as John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison was a British jurist and historian.Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison, a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexander Brice, a Belfast granite merchant. He was baptised at St...
, Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, John Tyndall
John Tyndall
John Tyndall FRS was a prominent Irish 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...
, and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
). A rival committee was set up by Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
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
Phillips v Eyre
Phillips v Eyre, LR 6 QB 1 is a famous English decision on the conflict of laws in tort. The Court developed a two prong test for determining whether a tort occurring outside of the court's jurisdiction can be actionable.-Facts:...
(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.
Recognition
In 1970 he was honoured on a postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
Further reading
- Dutton, Geoffrey (1982) In search of Edward John Eyre South Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0333338413
External links
- Short biography
- Eyre's Journals from his 1840/1 expedition
- Biography in 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
Edward John Eyre (5 August 1815 30 November 1901) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
land explorer of the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n continent, colonial administrator, and a controversial Governor of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
's Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately below sea level, and, on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia and 18th largest in the world...
, Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula
Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded on the east by Spencer Gulf, the west by the Great Australian Bight, and the north by the Gawler Ranges. It is named after explorer Edward John Eyre who explored some of it in 1839-1841. The coastline was first explored by...
, Eyre Creek, Eyre Highway
Eyre Highway
The Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highway 1/A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It was named after explorer Edward John Eyre, who was the first to...
(the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton
Eyreton
Eyreton, originally known as Eyretown, is a small village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after Edward John Eyre, who at one time was the lieutenant governor of the South Island...
and West Eyreton
West Eyreton
West Eyreton is a small rural village in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located west of Kaiapoi and northwest of Eyreton and is named after Edward John Eyre, a 19th century lieutenant governor of the South Island...
in Canterbury
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Early life
Eyre was born in WhipsnadeWhipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.5 miles South-South-West of Dunstable...
, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea
Hornsea
Hornsea is a small seaside resort, town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England at the eastern end of the Trans Pennine Trail.-Overview:According to the 2001 UK Census, Hornsea parish had a population of 8,243....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (née Mapleton). After completing grammar school at Louth
Louth, Lincolnshire
Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...
and Sedbergh
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...
, he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
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. When South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
was founded, Eyre brought 1,000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro, New South Wales
Monaro is the name of a region in the south of New South Wales, Australia. A small area of Victoria near Snowy River National Park is geographically part of the Monaro, whilst the Australian Capital Territory is frequently considered part of the region: most towns have very close links with...
to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and sold them for a large profit.
South Australian expeditions
Eyre's 1839 expeditions
Edward John Eyre's two expeditions of 1839 to the interior of South Australia were his first expeditions as an explorer, if one discounts the two earlier trips he made down the Murray River to Adelaide, herding cattle and then sheep.-North:...
of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges
Flinders Ranges is the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts approximately north west of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna...
and west to beyond Ceduna
Ceduna, South Australia
Ceduna is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port...
.
Eyre, together with his Aboriginal companion Wylie
Wylie (person)
Wylie was an indigenous Australian originally from the tribes around Albany in Western Australia. He accompanied Edward John Eyre to Adelaide by sea in May 1840, and would have left with Eyre on his expedition to penetrate to the interior in June of the same year, but Wylie was ill...
, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.-Extent:...
and the Nullarbor Plain
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its north. It is the world's largest single piece of limestone, and occupies an area of about...
by land in 1840-1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to Albany, Western Australia
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
. He had originally led the expedition with John Baxter
John Baxter (explorer)
John Baxter was a friend and companion of Edward John Eyre on his crossing of the Nullarbor Plain in 1840-1841. When the party was low on supplies and in desperate need of water, near the coast south of present-day Caiguna in Nuytsland National Park, Baxter was murdered by Yarry and Joey, two of...
and three aborigines. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay
Rossiter Bay is located on the southern coast of Western Australia, in the Cape Le Grand National Park east of Esperance. The bay is noted as the place where explorer Edward John Eyre and his Aboriginal companion Wylie met the crew of the French whaling ship Mississippi in June 1841, having...
, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and Aborigines along the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
.
Colonial Governor
From 1848 to 1853, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster Province in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
under Sir George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in 1850. She was the sister of Captain James Ormond
John Davies Ormond
John Davies Ormond was a New Zealand politician whose positions included Superintendent of Hawke's Bay Province, Minister of Public Works and member of the New Zealand Legislative Council....
, R.N.
From 1854 he was Governor of several Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island colonies.
Colonial Governor in Jamaica
As Governor of the Colony, Eyre, fearful of an island wide uprising, brutally suppressed the Morant Bay RebellionMorant Bay rebellion
The Morant Bay rebellion began on October 11, 1865, when Paul Bogle led 200 to 300 black men and women into the town of Morant Bay, parish of St. Thomas in the East, Jamaica. The rebellion and its aftermath were a major turning point in Jamaica's history, and also generated a significant political...
, and had many black peasants killed. Hundreds were flogged. He also authorised the execution of George William Gordon
George William Gordon
George William Gordon, National Hero of Jamaica was a Jamaican businessman and politician. On the centenary of his death, he was proclaimed a National Hero of Jamaica. Gordon was the 2nd of 7 children born to a white planter, Joseph Gordon and a mulatto slave, Ann Rattray in April 1815 although...
, 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
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
organised the Jamaica Committee
Jamaica Committee
The Jamaica Committee was a group set up in 1866, which called for Edward Eyre, Governor of Jamaica, to be tried for his excesses in suppressing the Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. More radical members of the Committee wanted him tried for the murder of British subjects , under the rule of law...
, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals
(such as John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
, Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison
Frederic Harrison was a British jurist and historian.Born at 17 Euston Square, London, he was the son of Frederick Harrison, a stockbroker and his wife Jane, daughter of Alexander Brice, a Belfast granite merchant. He was baptised at St...
, Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays , a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. It had a lesser-known sequel, Tom Brown at Oxford .- Biography :Hughes was the second son of John Hughes, editor of...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, John Tyndall
John Tyndall
John Tyndall FRS was a prominent Irish 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he studied thermal radiation, and produced a number of discoveries about processes in the atmosphere...
, and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
). A rival committee was set up by Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
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
Phillips v Eyre
Phillips v Eyre, LR 6 QB 1 is a famous English decision on the conflict of laws in tort. The Court developed a two prong test for determining whether a tort occurring outside of the court's jurisdiction can be actionable.-Facts:...
(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.
Recognition
In 1970 he was honoured on a postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
bearing his portrait issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0009710.jpg.
Further reading
- Dutton, Geoffrey (1982) In search of Edward John Eyre South Melbourne: Macmillan. ISBN 0333338413