Richard Bingham Sheridan (1 August 1822 – 8 June 1897), was a Queensland public servant, liberal-oriented Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

and government minister (minister without portfolio 1883–85 and later Post Master General in 1885).

Early life

Sheridan was born at

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. W ...

, County Mayo

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of Henry S. Sheridan and his wife Margaret, ''née'' Martin. He arrived in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1842 and was initially employed near

Twofold Bay Twofold Bay is an open oceanic embayment that is located in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The bay was named by George Bass, for its shape of two bights. The northern bight is called Calle Calle Bay; while the souther ...

, where he had the experience of being, on his own account, 'one of the first white men ever seen among the wild tribes'. Subsequently, he was until 1844 employed as a property manager for Captain William Oldrey of

Broulee Broulee is a town on the south coast of New South Wales between Batemans Bay and Moruya. At the , the town had a population of 1,717. Just off the beach is Broulee Island, currently joined to the mainland, but in past years the connecting spit ...

. He married on 18 November 1845, in Sydney, to Adele Eulalie Masse, a native of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

Public servant

Sheridan subsequently joined the Customs Department in Sydney in February 1846 but his illness made him be eventually transferred to Moreton Bay (

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

) in February 1853, where on 31 May, he became a member of the Steam Navigation Board. He later moved north to take up a position as a sub-collector of customs at Maryborough on 10 December 1859 and subsequently as a Water Police Magistrate and Immigration Agent. He thus held several key positions in the Wide Bay and Maryborough area in the period from 1859 to his retirement in about 1890.

Volunteer roles

In 1873, Sheridan was appointed a foundation trustee and chairman of the Maryborough Botanic Gardens. Sheridan was an honorary lieutenant colonel in the volunteer

Queensland Defence Force Until Australia became a Federation in 1901, each of the six colonies were responsible for their own defence. From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces. In all, 24 British infantry regiments served in the Australian colonies ...

Politics

In the 1883 Queensland elections on 17 August 1883 Sheridan was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly in the seat of Maryborough, where he was an ally of

Samuel Griffith Sir Samuel Walker Griffith, (21 June 1845 – 9 August 1920) was an Australian judge and politician who served as the inaugural Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1919. He also served a term as Chief Justice of Queensland and t ...

. He was a Minister without portfolio from 13 November 1883 to 3 January 1885, after which he became briefly Postmaster-General of Queensland from 3 January 1885 to 17 February 1885. He held the seat until 5 May 1888.

Later life

Sheridan retired to Brisbane but moved to Sydney in 1897, where he died at Manly on 8 June and was buried in

Waverley Cemetery The Waverley Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on top of the cliffs at Bronte in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in 1877 and built by R. Watkins (cemetery lodge, 1878) and P. Beddie (cemetery office, 1915), ...

in accordance with his Catholic faith. Sheridan was respected for his integrity and deep sense of fairness and humanity, and as such, he remained throughout his life a true pioneer of compassion in regard to the rights of Aboriginal people and always keenly alert to the shady sides of the infamous Melanesian labour trade. He thus protested in public against the

Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentie ...

system he would later raise his voice in defence of the rights of Melanesian labourers. In November 1873, he strongly criticised Maryborough hospital for refusing the treatment to a dying Aboriginal.Evidence to the Select Committee into the Native Police Force May 1861; Maryborough Chronicle 5 Feb 1874, page 3a; Maryborough Chronicle 9 Dec & 16 Dec 1876, Extract from the evidence taken by the select committee on Polynesian labour I&II; Q 22 Jul 1876, page 6d; Gympie Times 6 Sep 1876, Editorial; Gympie Times on 7 & 17 Sep, and 7 Oct 1876, Articles on Sheridan and the Kanaka trade.

References