George Alexander Anstey (1814 – 18 Feb 1895) was born at

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...

, London. He was the eldest son of Thomas Anstey, an early settler in

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 ...

(

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

). George migrated to Tasmania at the age of thirteen and arrived in

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 ...

in February 1827 with Thomas 'Chiz' Chisholm Anstey, one of his younger brothers, in the ship ''Admiral Cockburn''. At the age of sixteen, he led one of his father's roving parties in the

Black War } The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British Empire, British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. The conflict, fought largely as a guerrilla war by both sides, claimed the lives of 600 ...

and captured a small tribe of Aboriginals, winning a 500-acre (2 km²) land grant and official praise for his 'humanity and kindness'. In 1834, Anstey went back to England with one of his sisters; on his return to Tasmania, he was shipwrecked in the

D'Entrecasteaux Channel The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania, Australia. The channel is the mouth for the estuaries of the Derwent and the Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman S ...

. In 1837 he took sheep to

Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is com ...

, sold them to John and Somerville Learmonth, and returned to ''Oatlands'', his father's estate. He then took sheep to South Australia, but could not sell them straight away and had to remain in the new colony. By 1840 he had at his newly acquired estate of Highercombe in the Adelaide Hills. Highercombe was named after a village near

Dulverton Dulverton is a small town and civil parish in west Somerset, England, near the border with Devon. The town had a population of 1,408 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes the hamlets of Battleton and Ashwick which is located approximately ...

, Somerset, England - his father's birthplace. With 9000 sheep at the time, he was one of the South Australia's biggest stock-holders. His flocks grew and by 1851 he had extensive pastoral leases on the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas. The produce of his orchard and vineyard at Highercombe was also winning a wide reputation. Although a 'true liberal' he was defeated by William Giles in two successive polls at Yatala in the first elections for the Legislative Council. Nominated to the first vacancy on 17 December 1851, he resigned on 25 August 1852, despairing of 'a reasonable constitution for the people'. On 12 September 1837 he married Harriet Kingham, daughter of W. J. Ruffy, sometime editor of the ''Farmers' Journal'', in London; they had nine children. After his father's death he returned to Van Diemen's Land with his wife and two sons, but soon went to England where, after years of constant travel, he died in 1895. He is remembered by the name Anstey Hill, a geographical feature, and the

Anstey Hill Recreation Park Anstey Hill Recreation Park is a protected area established in 1989 and located approximately northeast of Adelaide, South Australia. The park is a significant reserve of bushland in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges and is home to rar ...

in the north eastern suburbs of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anstey, George Alexander 1814 births 1895 deaths Settlers of South Australia Settlers of Tasmania Members of the South Australian Legislative Council 19th-century Australian businesspeople 19th-century Australian politicians English emigrants to colonial Australia