Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt
Encyclopedia
Evelyn Sturt was born in Dorset
, England
. He was the son of Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, who became a puisne
judge in Bengal
for the British East India Company
. His mother was Jeannette, née Wilson. His older brother was the Australian explorer Charles Sturt
.
Evelyn arrived in Australia at the age of 20, and by 21 he was appointed the Commissioner of Crown Lands for all of the new colony. Two years later, he resigned and then overlanded sheep and cattle from Bathurst
to Adelaide
to take up a large parcel of land as a grazier.
From 1849 until 1878, Sturt was appointed to the position of Superintendent of Police
in Melbourne
, and (twice) as the Police Magistrate
dealing with matters including the Bentley Hotel affair which was seen by many to be a precursor to the Eureka Stockade
.
, but in 1836 at the young age of 20, he migrated to New South Wales
, Australia
travelling on the Hooghly, a ship of 466 tons which had previously been used as a convict transport vessel and was under the captaincy of George Bayly at that time. Sturt arrived in Sydney on 12 October that year.
Making an impression on the authorities, Evelyn was appointed, only 4 months after his arrival, as the Commissioner of Crown Lands
and was based in Yass
from 20 February 1837. Being only 21 years of age he was sometimes referred to as 'the boy commissioner'.
in the Mount Lofty Ranges
, he took up Compton station in the Mount Gambier
district in 1844.
Again Evelyn was favoured by the authorities when he was granted ownership of the land in the area ahead of the Henty brothers who, despite also spending five years from 1839 to 1844 dealing with resistance from the Buandig
(or Buandik) people, were the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the area., were not granted the land ahead of Evelyn. Although he continued to encounter many difficulties, and left to hold a new position as Police Magistrate in 1849, he did not dispose of the lands until 1853.
In 1853, Sturt wrote about the River Murray area, which his explorer brother Charles Sturt had named in 1830:
As for the Murray ever becoming an agricultural country, the notion is absurd ... there is hardly a settler on the Lower Murray who can luxuriate in a vegetable.
In the following year he accepted the position of superintendent
of the Melbourne Police
, and attempted to reconcile what he described as the great inefficiency of the District (Melbourne and County of Bourke) Police Force arising from their scattered and isolated stations and a lack of constables of police
.
Sturt found his troubles to be influenced by various gold rushes, which took a toll on police numbers - indeed he reported in December 1851 that he had lost forty of his fifty staff to resignation. In early 1853, Sir William Mitchell
assumed Sturt's position of Superintendent of police and Evelyn was reappointed as magistrate for Melbourne, serving for the next twenty-five years. It appears that he was not afraid of brandishing his authority and in 1854 when he was appointed to the commission of inquiry into the Bentley hotel affair at Ballarat - seen by many to be a pre-cursor to the Eureka Stockade
he recommended dismissal of some corrupt government officers and compensation to some of those who had suffered losses.
Evelyn also was appointed as a member of the royal commissions in 1861 that reported on the disastrous Burke and Wills expedition.
In 1869, he took a brief leave of absence from his position and returned to England (with his wife) and was present at the death of his brother Charles Sturt who had returned to live in England some 18 years earlier. Evelyn returned to his position but was dismissed in the Black Wednesday retrenchments of January 1878, and then accepting a pension, he left with his wife for England.
Reverend J. C. Grylls. They had no children, and later lived in Brighton, Victoria
.
from another trip to England aboard the Perkin, Evelyn contracted a severe case of bronchitis
. He died, aged 69, on 10 February 1885, the day before reaching the Egyptian city of Port Said
. Evelyn's body was returned to England for burial.
Evelyn County, New South Wales
and Sturt Street, Ballarat, Victoria
are named in his honour.
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
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...
. He was the son of Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, who became a puisne
Puisne
Puisne is a legal term of art used mainly in British English meaning "inferior in rank." It is pronounced like the word puny, and the word, so spelled, has become an ordinary adjective meaning weak or undersized.The judges and barons of the common law courts at...
judge in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
for the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. His mother was Jeannette, née Wilson. His older brother was the Australian explorer Charles Sturt
Charles Sturt
Captain Charles Napier Sturt was an English explorer of Australia, and part of the European Exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from both Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers,...
.
Evelyn arrived in Australia at the age of 20, and by 21 he was appointed the Commissioner of Crown Lands for all of the new colony. Two years later, he resigned and then overlanded sheep and cattle from Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
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...
to take up a large parcel of land as a grazier.
From 1849 until 1878, Sturt was appointed to the position of Superintendent of Police
Superintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and (twice) as the Police Magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
dealing with matters including the Bentley Hotel affair which was seen by many to be a precursor to the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
.
Early life
Evelyn was educated at the Sandhurst Military CollegeRoyal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, but in 1836 at the young age of 20, he migrated to 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...
, 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...
travelling on the Hooghly, a ship of 466 tons which had previously been used as a convict transport vessel and was under the captaincy of George Bayly at that time. Sturt arrived in Sydney on 12 October that year.
Making an impression on the authorities, Evelyn was appointed, only 4 months after his arrival, as the Commissioner of Crown Lands
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
and was based in Yass
Yass, New South Wales
Yass is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Shire. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" , said to mean 'running water'....
from 20 February 1837. Being only 21 years of age he was sometimes referred to as 'the boy commissioner'.
Sheep and cattle farming
Sturt resigned his post as Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1839 and decided to take sheep and cattle overland from Bathurst to Adelaide, at the time a massive distance of 1200 km. After occupying country at Willunga, South AustraliaWillunga, South Australia
Willunga is a town south of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Onkaparinga local government area. It is 5 km away from the wine growing region of McLaren Vale and is approx. 47 km from the Adelaide CBD...
in the Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
, he took up Compton station in the Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier, South Australia
Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....
district in 1844.
Again Evelyn was favoured by the authorities when he was granted ownership of the land in the area ahead of the Henty brothers who, despite also spending five years from 1839 to 1844 dealing with resistance from the Buandig
Buandig
The Buandig people are Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.-Traditional Lands:...
(or Buandik) people, were the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the area., were not granted the land ahead of Evelyn. Although he continued to encounter many difficulties, and left to hold a new position as Police Magistrate in 1849, he did not dispose of the lands until 1853.
In 1853, Sturt wrote about the River Murray area, which his explorer brother Charles Sturt had named in 1830:
As for the Murray ever becoming an agricultural country, the notion is absurd ... there is hardly a settler on the Lower Murray who can luxuriate in a vegetable.
Duties with the Melbourne Police
While still at Mount Gambier, South Australia, Evelyn was offered and accepted an appointment as the Police Magistrate in Melbourne in 1849.In the following year he accepted the position of superintendent
Superintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...
of the Melbourne Police
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, along with over 400 recruits, reservists and Protective Service Officers, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.-Early history:The Victoria Police...
, and attempted to reconcile what he described as the great inefficiency of the District (Melbourne and County of Bourke) Police Force arising from their scattered and isolated stations and a lack of constables of police
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
.
Sturt found his troubles to be influenced by various gold rushes, which took a toll on police numbers - indeed he reported in December 1851 that he had lost forty of his fifty staff to resignation. In early 1853, Sir William Mitchell
William Henry Fancourt Mitchell
Sir William Henry Fancourt Mitchell was an Australian politician. Mitchell was the son of the Rev. George Mitchell of Leicester, England....
assumed Sturt's position of Superintendent of police and Evelyn was reappointed as magistrate for Melbourne, serving for the next twenty-five years. It appears that he was not afraid of brandishing his authority and in 1854 when he was appointed to the commission of inquiry into the Bentley hotel affair at Ballarat - seen by many to be a pre-cursor to the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
he recommended dismissal of some corrupt government officers and compensation to some of those who had suffered losses.
Evelyn also was appointed as a member of the royal commissions in 1861 that reported on the disastrous Burke and Wills expedition.
In 1869, he took a brief leave of absence from his position and returned to England (with his wife) and was present at the death of his brother Charles Sturt who had returned to live in England some 18 years earlier. Evelyn returned to his position but was dismissed in the Black Wednesday retrenchments of January 1878, and then accepting a pension, he left with his wife for England.
Marriage
Evelyn remained unmarried until 36, but then in 1852 he married Mary Frances, who was a daughter of the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Reverend J. C. Grylls. They had no children, and later lived in Brighton, Victoria
Brighton, Victoria
Brighton is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Brighton had a population of 20,651...
.
Death
In 1885, when returning to VictoriaVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
from another trip to England aboard the Perkin, Evelyn contracted a severe case of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
. He died, aged 69, on 10 February 1885, the day before reaching the Egyptian city of Port Said
Port Said
Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
. Evelyn's body was returned to England for burial.
Evelyn County, New South Wales
Evelyn County, New South Wales
Evelyn County is one of the 141 Cadastral divisions of New South Wales, Australia.Evelyn County is named in honour of Police Magistrate Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt who was the brother of Charles Sturt.- Parishes within this county:...
and Sturt Street, Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
are named in his honour.
See also
- Charles SturtCharles SturtCaptain Charles Napier Sturt was an English explorer of Australia, and part of the European Exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from both Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers,...
- Mount Gambier, South AustraliaMount Gambier, South AustraliaMount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....
- Eureka StockadeEureka StockadeThe Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
- Evelyn County, New South WalesEvelyn County, New South WalesEvelyn County is one of the 141 Cadastral divisions of New South Wales, Australia.Evelyn County is named in honour of Police Magistrate Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt who was the brother of Charles Sturt.- Parishes within this county:...
- Burke and Wills