George Hall Esq. was a British administrator in the 19th century.
South Australia
George Hall Esq. was Private Secretary to the
Governor of South Australia
The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gene ...
George Gawler and Clerk of the
Legislative Council in 1840, including a period acting as
Colonial Secretary of South Australia while
Robert Gouger
Robert Gouger (; 26 June 1802 – 4 August 1846) was one of the founders of South Australia and the first Colonial Secretary of South Australia.
Early life
Gouger was the fifth son of nine children of George Gouger (1763–1802), who was a pr ...
was unwell. He was Clerk of the Council from 18 October 1838 through to 1840.
Parkhurst Prison
After his time in South Australia, Hall was governor of
Parkhurst Prison on the
Isle of Wight.
In his time as Governor of Parkhurst Prison, Hall proposed sending boys who were convicted in Britain to colonies as
Parkhurst apprentices, whereupon they would receive a pardon on arrival in a colony, but be expected to serve out an apprenticeship before being eligible to return to Britain. This proposal was rejected by the
Colony of South Australia, but accepted in
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...
and forced on the
Colony of New Zealand.
Hall was an early advocate of using juvenile prison to rehabilitate young offenders to society rather than teaching them to be better criminals in their adult life. He sought to teach them a trade or other skills to avoid a life of crime.
Personal life
Hall married Julia, eldest daughter of Col
George Gawler on 21 September 1847 at St. John's,
Derby.
Legacy
From his time in South Australia, two minor geographic features were named after him.
Edward John Eyre named
Mount Hall () on
Eyre Peninsula after him
and his boss (and future father-in-law) George Gawler named Hall's Bay (now
Hall Bay, ) after him.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, George
Public servants of South Australia