Alfred Henry Brown (1818 – 20 February 1907) was a Station owner and Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.[1]

Alfred Brown
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council
In office
26 April 1861 – 13 May 1863
In office
12 January 1874 – 26 January 1882
Personal details
Born
Alfred Henry Brown

1818
Somersetshire near Bristol, England
Died1907 aged 89
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
NationalityEnglish Australian
OccupationStation owner, Sugar mill owner

Early life edit

Brown was born in Brislington, Somersetshire, England bef Sept 1818 to John Brown and his wife Mary (née Cater).

Pastoralist edit

He and three brothers, Dr. Walter Brown, Henry Hort Brown and Arthur Brown, migrated to Queensland around 1839 under medical advice due to pulmonary disease. Together they invested all of their capital in purchasing Gin Gin station, Junction station in Wide Bay district, taking up yet another station in Port Curtis, altogether the brothers ending up as leaseholders of hundreds of square miles of the best cattle country on the north coast of Australia. Brown managed the station and gained a reputation with his nearby pastoralists and became known as the "British Lion of the Burnett".[1]

Politics and public life edit

The Governor General of New South Wales appointed Alfred Henry Brown of Port Curtis to be a Magistrate for New South Wales on 30 August 1858.[2]

On Thursday 15 July 1858 Alfred Brown, Esq. appeared in Sydney before The Select Committee on the Murders by the Aborigines on the Dawson River.[3][4] This Committee was appointed as a reaction to the Hornet Bank massacre and subsequent events.

Brown was appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 26 April 1861 and resigned his seat on the 13 May 1863. He was once again appointed on 12 January 1874 and served till he resigned on 26 January 1882.[1]

On 26 June 1861 the Honorable Alfred Henry Brown, M.L.C., appeared before The Select Committee on the Native Police Force in Queensland. He made it clear that he did not support the Native Police, and in particular the officers of the Native Police.[5][6]

In 1879 he was appointed on the founding trustees of Maryborough Boys Grammar School.[7]

Later life edit

Brown retired to Sydney and later on, returned to England. Brown died at Tunbridge Wells in 1907.[1][8]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. ^ "MAGISTRATES". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 133. New South Wales, Australia. 31 August 1858. p. 1413. Retrieved 27 July 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "MURDERS BY THE ABORIGINES ON THE DAWSON RIVER". Empire. No. 2, 371. New South Wales, Australia. 11 August 1858. p. 6. Retrieved 8 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Report from the Select Committee on Murders by the Aborigines on the Dawson River" (PDF). New South Wales Legislative Assembly. 1858. pp. 31–36. Retrieved 8 August 2020 – via Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
  5. ^ "Native Police Force. Report" (PDF). Queensland Legislative Assembly. 1861. p. 114. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020 – via Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
  6. ^ Queensland. Parliament. Legislative Assembly. Select Committee on Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines Generally (1861), Report from the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines Generally together with the proceedings of the Committee and minutes of evidence, Fairfax and Belbridge, p. 114, retrieved 8 August 2020
  7. ^ "Official Notifications". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. XXXIII, no. 3, 660. Queensland, Australia. 10 February 1879. p. 3. Retrieved 18 June 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ Cumberland Argus (Paramatta) 30 March 1907, 4f.