Walter Duffield (1816 – 5 November 1882) was a pastoralist and politician in colonial South Australia,

Treasurer of South Australia The Treasurer of South Australia is the Cabinet minister in the Government of South Australia who is responsible for the financial management of that state's budget sector. The Urban Renewal Authority, trading as Renewal SA, lies within the T ...

1865 to 1867. Duffield was born in Great Baddow,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England, son of William Duffield, a farmer; the solicitor William Ward Duffield was a brother. Walter arrived in South Australia in the ''William Barras'' in December 1839. His first occupation was as manager for fellow-passenger Jacob Hagen's estate at Echunga, where his wine was some of the first produced in the colony. He left Echunga to build up the Para Para estate, near

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

, and produced hams, wines and orchard fruit; he later had 40,000

Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

sheep. He started business in Gawler as a flour miller ("The Victoria Steam Flour Mill", founded by Stephen King JP) and merchant in September 1847, and, in conjunction with Harrold Brothers as Duffield, Harrold and Company (later Duffield, Harrold and Hurd), owned Weinteriga and Outalpa stations. Duffield was member for Barossa in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

from 9 March 1857 to 6 April 1868 and from 14 April 1870 to 13 December 1871, and was Treasurer in the John Hart Government from 23 October 1865 to March 1866, and in the Ministry of

James Boucaut Sir James Penn Boucaut (;) (29 October 1831 – 1 February 1916) was a South Australian politician and Australian judge. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly on four occasions: from 1861 to 1862 for City of Adelaide, from ...

, which succeeded it, from the latter date till 3 May 1867. Duffield subsequently sat in the

South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, ...

from 3 April 1873 to 27 May 1879, when every four years one third of the Legislative Council was elected by the whole colony as one electorate "The Province". Duffield died in Gawler on 5 November 1882 and was buried in Willaston General Cemetery.

Family

Walter Duffield married Phoebe Johnstone (c. 1814 – 15 May 1890) on 7 March 1842; their children were: *Mary Ann Hawkes Duffield (1844– 21 August 1902) married Eli Thomas Humphry in 1880 *Louisa Caroline Duffield (1846– ) married Frank Makin in 1870 *Eleanor Duffield (1848 – 13 May 1934) married J(ohn) Davies Thomas MD (c. 1845 – 30 January 1893) on 10 June 1878. Thomas was for a time partner of

H. T. Whittell Horatio Thomas Whittell MD., MRCS. (1826 – 21 August 1899), generally referred to as H. T. Whittell or H. Thomas Whittell, was a medical doctor in South Australia and Adelaide's City Coroner. Biography Whittell was born in Warwick, England, a ...

MD. *Emily Martha Duffield (1849– ) married Thomas Hopkins Bowen on 2 July 1873 Bowen later acted as attorney for the Duffield estate. *David Walter Duffield (1851 – 24 January 1922) married Florence Evangeline Kirkpatrick on 15 August 1878 **Walter Geoffrey Duffield (1879 – 1929) grandson, astronomer buried at

Mount Stromlo Mount Stromlo (formerly Mount Strom ) is a mountain with an elevation of that is situated in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The mountain is most notable as the location of the Mount Stromlo Observatory. The mountain forms par ...

References

–– {{DEFAULTSORT:Duffield, Walter 1816 births 1882 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Members of the South Australian Legislative Council Treasurers of South Australia Australian flour millers and merchants Australian pastoralists 19th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Australian businesspeople