Henry Osborne (8 February 1803 – 26 February 1859) was an Australian pastoralist, collier and politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

between 1851 and 1856. He was also a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for one term from 1856 until 1857.

Early life

Osborne was the son of an Irish farmer. He had an elementary education in County Tyrone and inherited his father's property. In 1829, on the advice of two brothers who had already emigrated to New South Wales, he liquidated his assets for £3000 and invested in a consignment of Irish linen which he exported to Sydney. From the proceeds of the linen he acquired a land grant of 2,560 acres and established a dairy farm at Marshall Mount near

Dapto Dapto is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the western side of Lake Illawarra and covering an area 7.15 square kilometres in size. As at the , the suburb had a population of 10,730. History ...

. By 1850, Osborne had acquired further substantial property in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

and Murrumbidgee districts and had also developed coal mines at

Mount Keira Mount Keira () is a suburb and mountain in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Mount Keira is a site of significant cultural heritage for the Wodi Wodi people. The name Mount Keira derives from the Wodi Wodi name for the mounta ...

and

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

Colonial Parliament

In 1851, prior to the establishment of responsible government, Osborne was elected to the semi-elected Legislative Council. He represented the electorate of East Camden until the granting of self-government in 1856. Subsequently, at the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

election under the new constitution he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for the same seat. He was subsequently defeated at the 1858 election and then retired from public life. He did not hold a parliamentary or ministerial position. His brother Alick was an elected member of the Legislative Council from 1851 to 1855. while his sons

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, were also members of the Legislative Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Henry 1803 births 1859 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Politicians from County Tyrone 19th-century Australian politicians