Edward Hamersley (1 September 1835 or 1836 – 14 January 1921) was a

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n pastoralist, and a Member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

for nearly ten years.

Biography

Early life

Edward Hamersley was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 1 September 1835. The Hamersleys were a well connected family, and he was related by blood or marriage to a number of prominent Western Australian farmers and politicians. His father

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

was one of the leading Western Australian landholders of his day; his brother

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

and nephew Vernon both became Members of the Legislative Council;

William Locke Brockman William Locke Brockman (1802 – 28 November 1872) was an early settler in Western Australia, who became a leading pastoralist and stock breeder, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Biography Born in Kent, England in 1 ...

was his uncle; his sister

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

married Sir

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...

; and his wife Jane was sister to

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and

Charles Dempster Charles Edward Dempster (19 December 1839 – 22 July 1907) was a politician in Western Australia, serving two terms in the Legislative Council—as the member for the seat of Toodyay from 1873 to 1874, and as one of the three East Province ...

. In 1837, his family emigrated to

, where his father,

, became a wealthy and prominent pastoralist. In 1843, the family returned to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, but again went to Western Australia in 1850, building a home in

Guildford, Western Australia Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, 12 km northeast of the city centre within the City of Swan. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the Swan River Colony. It is one of only three towns in the ...

near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Career

In 1853, he took charge of his father's

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

station ''Richmond'', in the Williams district. He was extremely unhappy at being sent away from the social scene at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, and he managed the station poorly, prompting a contemporary

John Wollaston John Wollaston may refer to: * John Wollaston (priest) (1791–1856), Anglican clergyman and settler in Western Australia * John Wollaston (painter) John Wollaston (active between 1742 and 1775) was an English painter of portraits who was acti ...

to write :''Hamersley's horse station... seems to me quite an apology for a breeding establishment... not a bit of hay nor handful of corn to be had.... The native dogs destroy the foals as soon as dropped.'' In 1858, his younger brother took over the station, and Hamersley was transferred to ''Wilberforce'', another of his father's stations, located in

York, Western Australia York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated on the Avon River, east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, on Ballardong Nyoongar land,King, A and Parker, E: York, Western Australia's first inland town, Parker Print, 2003 p.3. and is ...

. In 1857, the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

agreed to allow settlers to elect men whom he would then nominate to the

. Edwards stood for election, but was defeated by his father's former partner and later enemy Samuel Pole Phillips. Western Australia having obtained

representative government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a types of democracy, type of democracy where elected people Representation (politics), represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern liberal democr ...

in 1870, he stood for election in 1874, and on 29 September of that year, he was elected to the Legislative Council seat of Toodyay. Two months later, his father died, and he was bequeathed two of his father's stations, ''Wilberforce'' and ''Woodside''. He resigned his seat in the Legislative Council on 6 October 1875. On 11 February 1880, he was elected to the Legislative Council seat of York. He did not stand for election in 1884 and so ceased to be a member on 27 October of that year. After Western Australia gained

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

in 1890, he was nominated to the Legislative Council on 24 December of that year, serving until the Council became fully elective in June 1894. He then contested the Legislative Council's East Province, but was unsuccessful.

Personal life and death

In February 1867, he married Jane Dempster. They had seven sons and three daughters. He was widowed in April 1913, and died in York, Western Australia on 14 January 1921.

References

* * Erickson (1979) is primarily about Edward Hamersley Snr.

Notes