William Crowther (Australian Politician)
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William Lodewyk Crowther
FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...
(15 April 1817 − 12 April 1885) was a
Tasmanian ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
politician, who was
Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of ...
from 20 December 1878 to 29 October 1879. His careers in medicine, politics, and business were overshadowed in modern times by his role in the unsanctioned exhumation and decapitation of William Lanne’s body. Lanne was believed to be the last “full-blooded”
Aboriginal Tasmanian The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of the List of islands of Australia, Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th centu ...
male and after the exhumation, his skull was sent by Crowther to the Royal College of Surgeons in London for preservation.


Early life

Crowther was born in Haarlem,
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, as the elder child of Dr. William Crowther who was later a long-time resident surgeon of
Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
. The Crowthers moved to
Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...
(now
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
) in 1824. Crowther was educated at Richard B. Claiborne's Grammar School in
Longford, Tasmania Longford is a town in the northern midlands of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 145 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston and a 15-minute drive from the airport. It ...
in 1828. On his 120-mile (193 km) walks to and from school in holidays, Crowther developed a strong interest in natural history. Crowther was subsequently apprenticed as an apothecarist in Hobart but without qualifications. After the death of his father in 1839, William Crowther continued his medical studies in England. He famously travelled from Hobart with a large collection of Tasmanian fauna, which included potoroos, black-faced wallabies, a pair of Tasmanian devils and 493 skins. This collection was sold to the Earl of Derby which allowed him to pay his fees at St Thomas's Hospital (M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., 1841) and a year of study in Paris. In 1842, William Crowther returned to Hobart and took over his father’s former practice.


Business interests

Crowther engaged in various commercial enterprises in Tasmania. He was a shipowner, had sawmills on the
Huon River The Huon River is a perennial river located in the south-west and south-east regions of Tasmania, Australia. At in length, the Huon River is the fifth-longest in the state, with its course flowing east through the fertile Huon Valley and empt ...
and shipped lumber from Tasmania to other
Australian colonies The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...
and New Zealand. He sent ships to collect
guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...
from islands in the Coral Sea and engaged in sealing and pelagic whaling from Hobart.


Political career

Crowther was elected to the
Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...
in October 1866, but resigned his seat in December 1866. On 22 March 1869, he was elected to the
Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two chambers of the Parliament, the other being the House of Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in the state capital, ...
as a representative of Hobart and held this seat until his death. He was a constant attendant and an able speaker. In July 1876 he joined the
Thomas Reibey Thomas Reibey (24 September 1821 – 10 February 1912) was an Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania from 20 July 1876 until 9 August 1877. Reiby was born in Hadspen, Van Diemen's Land, (now Tasmania) the son of Thomas Haydock Reibey and ...
cabinet as a minister without portfolio, and on 20 December 1878 became premier. The state of the political parties at that time made it practically impossible to do anything constructive. Crowther resigned on 29 October 1879.


Removal of Indigenous remains

Crowther is noted for mutilating the
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of
William Lanne William Lanne (1835 – 3 March 1869), also spelt William Lanné and also known as King Billy or William Laney, was an Aboriginal Tasmanian man, known for being the last " full-blooded" Aboriginal man in the colony of Tasmania. Early lif ...
, a Tasmanian Aboriginal man, in 1869. He removed Lanne's skull and sent it to the
Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...
in London. He was suspended from his role as honorary medical officer at the Hobart General Hospital over charges arising from this mutilation. An inquiry showed that two mutilations had taken place, the first at the Colonial Hospital, the other at the cemetery the night of the burial. Drs Crowther and G. Stokell, resident medical officer at the hospital, were suspected of the first, the Royal Society of Tasmania of the second. A petition with 48 pages of closely-packed signatures was sent to Governor (Sir)
Charles Du Cane Sir Charles Du Cane (5 December 1825 – 25 February 1889) was a British Conservative Party politician and colonial administrator who was a Member of Parliament between 1852 and 1854 and Governor of Tasmania from 1868 to 1874. Du Cane was born ...
seeking annulment of Crowther's suspension, without success. Crowther threatened violence when challenged about his actions by then Premier Alfred Kennerley in the
Tasmanian Parliament The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the Governor of Tasmania, the Tasmanian House of Assembly (the lower house), and ...
in August 1873: Sources have speculated Crowther's involvement in the 1907 exhumation of other Aboriginal Tasmanians, notably a girl named Mathinna. This claim is unlikely as Crowther had died nearly 30 years earlier. Update: Crowther's grandson, Sir William Edward Lodewyk Hamilton Crowther (1887–1981), was the Dr Crowther who exhumed multiple Tasmania Aboriginal people's skeletal remains in 1908, and eventually, remorsefully admitted to his actions.


Death and legacy

Crowther died in Hobart on 12 April 1885, three days before his 68th birthday. He was survived by his wife Victoria Marie Louise, daughter of General Muller, and their eight children. One of his sons, Edward Crowther, was a member of the Tasmanian parliament from 1878 to 1912. In 1935 W. L. Crowther's face mask joined those of other eminent Australians in the gallery of the Institute of Anatomy in
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
. The W. L. Crowther Library was named in his memory, and presented to the State Library of Tasmania by his grandson Sir William Crowther (1887–1981), son of Edward, in 1964. Despite a long life involving many other endeavours and achievements in his adopted home and abroad, according to historian Helen Patricia MacDonald, referring to the theft of Lanne's remains, "the events of 1869 came to define William Crowther's place in Tasmanian history".


Statue

A bronze statue of Crowther was erected in Franklin Square,
Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
, on 9 January 1889, funded by public subscription. The inscription reads:PDF
/ref> On 15 August 2022 the
Hobart City Council Hobart City Council (or City of Hobart) is a local government body in Tasmania, covering the central metropolitan area of the state capital, Hobart. The Hobart local government area has a population of 53,684 and includes the suburbs of West ...
voted 7 to 4 in favour of removing Crowther's statue from public display in Franklin Square, as an act of
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. Lord Mayor, Anna Reynolds, said "
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does not change history", adding that the records and stories remained unchanged; however, "We don't want to celebrate a time in our history when scientists and doctors wanted to prove theories of European superiority". She said that the statue would be conserved, and that preliminary discussions had been held with the
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...
about moving it there.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowther, William Lodewyk 1817 births 1885 deaths Premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Australian surgeons Politicians from Haarlem Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons 19th-century Australian politicians Australian people in whaling Australian ship owners Sealers 19th-century Australian businesspeople Anti-indigenous racism in Australia