Joseph Bosisto
CMG,
MLA JP (21 March 1827 – 8 November 1898), was a chemist and politician in colonial
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Australia.
Background
Bosisto was the son of William Bosisto and Maria née Lazenby, of
Cookham
Cookham is a historic River Thames, Thames-side village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, Bourne ...
, Berkshire, and was born on 21 March 1827, at
Hammersmith. Becoming a
druggist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
, he emigrated to
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, South Australia, arriving in October 1848 aboard ''Competitor'', and is claimed to have established the business of Messrs.
Faulding & Co. He proceeded to Melbourne in 1851, and began business at Richmond.
Professional activities
![Eucalyptus JPG2a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Eucalyptus_JPG2a.jpg)
Bosisto went largely into the manufacture of its products. The Pharmaceutical Society of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
was founded mainly through his instrumentality in 1857. He was twice mayor of Richmond, and chairman of the local bench for five years consecutively.
Assemblies and Commissions
From 1874 to 1889 he was
M.L.A. for the city, but was defeated in the latter year. He was part of the commission for the 1875
Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition in Melbourne, then having represented Victoria at the
Calcutta Exhibition in 1883, he was appointed President of the Royal Commission of that colony at the
Colonial and Indian Exhibition
The Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 was held in South Kensington in London with the objective to (in the words of the then Prince of Wales) "stimulate commerce and strengthen the bonds of union now existing in every portion of her Majes ...
, held at
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
in 1886, for his services at which he was created C.M.G. on 28 June of that year. Bosisto was a J.P. for Victoria, and was president of the Technological Commission, and Examiner in Materia Medica and Botany at the College of Pharmacy.
In April 1892 Bosisto was re-elected to the Assembly for
Jolimont and West Richmond, and he continued in that seat until September 1894.
Other
He married Eliza Johnston in Adelaide in 1852, there was no issue from this marriage. His estate was bequeathed to several nephews and nieces.
Several Australian botanical species are named in honour of Bosisto, including
Bosistoa floydii
''Bosistoa floydii'', commonly known as the five-leaf bosistoa or five-leaved bonewood, is a species of small rainforest tree that is Endemism, endemic to north-eastern New South Wales. It has Pinnation, pinnate leaves usually with five elliptic ...
.
See also
*
French Australians
References
1827 births
1898 deaths
Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
19th-century Australian politicians
Australian inventors
Australian company founders
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