William Henry Suttor (Senior) (12 December 1805 – 20 October 1877) was an Australian pastoralist and politician.

Early life

Suttor was born in

Baulkham Hills, New South Wales Baulkham Hills is a suburb in the Hills District of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 30 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district within the local government area of The Hills Shire. Baulk ...

, the third son of

George Suttor George Suttor (11 June 1774 – 5 May 1858) was an Anglo-Scottish farmer and pioneer settler of Australia, who is notable as the founder of a significant Australian family, and also as a supporter of Captain Bligh following the 1808 Rebellion ...

and his wife Sarah Maria, ''née'' Dobinson. The politician

John Bligh Suttor John Bligh Suttor (1809 – 27 May 1886) was an Australian politician. He was born at Baulkham Hills to settler George Suttor and Sarah Dobinson. John Suttor was a pastoralist. On 16 September 1845 he married Julia Bowler, with whom he had te ...

was a brother. In 1822 his father appointed him overseer of his property 'Brucedale Station' on the Bathurst plains. This turned out to be a successful landholding leading to great prosperity, and was significantly expanded over time.

Relations with Wiradjuri tribe

During a time of great conflict with the

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

of the

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, a ...

nation, who resisted the taking of their lands, both William and George established good relations with the aborigines. They were known to have been close to the Wiradjuri's warrior leader

Windradyne Windradyne ( – 21 March 1829) was an Aboriginal warrior and resistance leader of the Wiradjuri nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales, Australia; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday. Windradyne led his peopl ...

during the 1820s, and when Windradyne died he was buried at Brucedale.

Political career

From 1843–54 Suttor represented the Counties of Roxburgh, Phillip and Wellington in the New South Wales Legislative Council. Later, Suttor represented the County of Bathurst in 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 ...

in 1856–59, East Macquarie in 1859 and 1860–64 and Bathurst in 1866–72.

Personal life

Suttor married Charlotte Francis in 1833, and together they had 14 children:

William Henry Suttor (Junior) William Henry Suttor (4 November 1834 – 20 October 1905) was an Australian politician and pastoralist. He was born at Brucedale near Bathurst to William Henry Suttor and Charlotte Augusta Ann Francis. He was educated at Parramatta and t ...

(1834–1905) who was also a NSW politician, Edwin John Piper, Francis Bathurst, Caroline, George Roxburgh, Edward Leichardt, Charlotte, Herbert Cochrane, Sarah Pauline, Albert Bruce, Walter Sydney, Clara Hay, Horace Melbourne and Norman Lachlan.

Death

William Henry Suttor died in Sydney on 20 October 1877, and is buried at St. Philip's Church in Sydney.

Legacy

The

Suttor River The Suttor River is a river in Central Queensland, Australia. The Belyando River is its main tributary. The river has its origins in the Leichhardt Range, north west of Glenden. It flows into Lake Dalrymple, becoming a tributary of the Burdek ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

was named after him. It was named on 7 March 1845 by explorer

Ludwig Leichhardt Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (), known as Ludwig Leichhardt, (23 October 1813 – c. 1848) was a German explorer and naturalist, most famous for his exploration of northern and central Australia.Ken Eastwood,'Cold case: Leichhardt's dis ...

on his expedition from

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

to Port Essington. Suttor had given Leichhardt some bullocks for his expedition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suttor, William Henry 1805 births 1877 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians