William Adams Brodribb

William Adams Brodribb
Born(1809-05-27)27 May 1809
London, England
Died31 May 1886(1886-05-31) (aged 77)
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Occupation(s)pastoralist, politician

William Adams Brodribb (27 May 1809 – 31 May 1886) was an Australian pastoralist and politician.[1][2]

He was born in London on 27 May 1809. His father, also William Adams Brodribb, was an attorney who was convicted of administering unlawful oaths in 1816 and transported for seven years. He arrived at Sydney in Sir William Bensley in March 1817, and was sent to Hobart. In February 1818 his wife and children arrived at Hobart in Duke of Wellington. They settled on a farm near New Norfolk and three more sons were born.

In April 1835 William junior moved to New South Wales and became a partner in a cattle station. In 1836 he overlanded the second draft of cattle to Melbourne. On returning from Port Phillip Brodribb relocated to what later became the site of Gundagai. In August Brodribb petitioned for a punt over the Murrumbidgee near his Gundagai hut and in January 1838 Deputy Surveyor General Samuel Perry reported that 'a better site could not have been chosen for a Town of the first class' in reference to Gundagai.[3] In 1841, following Strzelecki, he formed an expedition to Gippsland which named Port Albert, the Latrobe River,[4] the Albert River[5][6] and explored inland.

In 1843 he became manager of the Monaro runs of William Bradley. For the next twelve years he lived on Coolringdon station near Cooma. In 1855 he settled on the Wanganella run, near Deniliquin. He owned a series of properties in western New South Wales until retiring to Sydney in 1879.

At the 1859 election he was a candidate for the seat Balranald in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, but was unsuccessful.[7] In July 1861 Brodribb won the seat of Brighton in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, but resigned the following year.[8] His brother Kenric was also a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing St Kilda from 1861 to 1864.[9] He made a further attempt for a seat in the NSW Legislative Assembly at the 1864-65 election for Monara, but was unsuccessful.[10]

He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the November 1880 election for the seat of Wentworth,[11] but he served for barely a year before he resigned to accept appointment to the Legislative Council in December 1881, where he remained until his death.[12]

Brodribb published an autobiography in 1883.[3]

He died in Sydney on 31 May 1886 (aged 77) and was buried with his family in St Andrew's Graveyard, Brighton, Victoria.[12]

Etymology

The Brodribb River in East Gippsland is named after him.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ Finch, Jannette; Teale, Ruth (1969). "Brodribb, William Adams (1809–1886)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943.
  2. ^ "The late Mr W A Brodribb". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 June 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 7 November 2014 – via Trove.
  3. ^ a b Brodribb, William Adams (1883). Recollections of an Australian squatter: 1835-1883. Sydney: Woods.
  4. ^ a b Blake, Les (1977). Place names of Victoria. Adelaide: Rigby. p. 294. ISBN 0-727-00250-3.
  5. ^ Reed, A. W. (1973). Place names of Australia. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed Books. p. 11. ISBN 0-7301-0051-0.
  6. ^ a b Bird, Eric (12 October 2006). "Place Names on the Coast of Victoria" (PDF). The Australian National Placename Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011.
  7. ^ Green, Antony. "1859 Balranald". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  8. ^ "William Adams Brodribb". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Kenric Edmund Brodribb". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  10. ^ Green, Antony. "1864-5 Monara". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  11. ^ Green, Antony. "1880 Wentworth". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b "Mr William Adams Brodribb (1809-1886)". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 30 June 2020.

 

Victorian Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Brighton
1861–1862 		Succeeded by
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New seat Member for Wentworth
1880–1881 		Succeeded by