William Byrnes (2 June 1809 – 25 October 1891) was an Australian politician. He was born in

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

to James and Frances Byrnes; his father was a member of the

New South Wales Corps The New South Wales Corps (sometimes called The Rum Corps) was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia, in fortifying the ...

. He was an apprentice saddler before pioneering steam ferries on the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

with his brother

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 ...

. On 6 December 1834 he married Ann Oakes, daughter of MLC Francis Oakes and they had fourteen children. In the 1840s the brothers ran a flour mill, and they continued to run mills and stores thereafter. Byrnes 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 ...

from August 1858 to May 1861 and from September 1861 until his death at Parramatta in October 1891. His brother James was a member of the NSW Parliament at various times between 1850 and 1872. His nephew,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, James' youngest son was also a member of the Legislative Assembly between 1874 and 1882.

References

1809 births 1891 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-politician-stub