Everything about Edward John Eyre totally explained
Edward John Eyre (
5 August,
1815 -
30 November,
1901) was an
English land explorer of the
Australian continent and a controversial Governor of
Jamaica.
South Australia's
Lake Eyre,
Eyre Peninsula,
Eyre Creek,
Eyre Highway (the main highway from South Australia to
Western Australia), and the Eyre Hotel in Whyalla are named in his honour, as are the villages of
Eyreton and
West Eyreton in
Canterbury,
New Zealand.
Early life
Eyre was born in
Whipsnade,
Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to
Hornsea,
Yorkshire, where he was christened. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (nee Mapleton). After completing grammar school at
Louth and
Sedbergh, he moved to
Sydney rather than join the army or go to university. He gained experience in the new land by boarding with and forming friendships with prominent gentlemen and became a flock owner when he bought 400 lambs a month before his 18th birthday . When
South Australia was found, Eyre brought 1,000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from
Monaro, New South Wales to
Adelaide and sold them for a large profit. He also discovered Lake Eyre.
South Australian expeditions
With this money, Eyre
set out to explore the interior of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the
Flinders Ranges and west to beyond
Ceduna.
Eyre, together with his adolescent Aboriginal companion
Wylie, with whom he's thought to have been on intimate terms, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the
Great Australian Bight and the
Nullarbor Plain by land in
1840-
1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to
Albany, Western Australia. He had originally led the expedition with
John Baxter and three aborigines. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at
Rossiter Bay, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and
New South Wales, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and
aborigines along the
Murray River.
Colonial Governor
From
1848 to
1853, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of
New Munster province in
New Zealand under
Sir George Grey. He married Miss Adelaide Ormond in
1850.
From
1854 he was Governor of several
Caribbean island colonies. Whilst Governor of Jamaica he suppressed the
Morant Bay Rebellion ruthlessly, and had many black peasants killed. He also authorised the execution (or judicial murder) of
George William Gordon, a mixed-race colonial assemblyman (his father was a Caucasian planter) who was suspected of involvement in the insurrection.
These events created great controversy in Britain, resulting in demands for Eyre to be arrested and tried for murdering Gordon.
John Stuart Mill organised the
Jamaica Committee, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals
(such as
John Bright,
Charles Darwin,
Thomas Huxley,
Thomas Hughes and
Herbert Spencer). A rival committee was set up by
Thomas Carlyle for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included
John Ruskin,
Charles Kingsley,
Charles Dickens and
Alfred Lord Tennyson. Twice Eyre was charged with murder, but the cases never proceeded.
Colonial Governor in Jamaica
In 1865 a rebellion broke out in the British colony of Jamaica due to poor living conditions of the indigenous inhabitants and the shortage of land available to them for cultivation. As Governor of the Colony, Edward John Eyre, brutally suppressed the rebellion, in which many indigenous people were killed and hundreds were savagely flogged. The case went to the UK Court of Exchequer as
Phillips v Eyre (1870) LR 6 QB 1, Exchequer Chamber. The case was influential in setting a precedent in English and Australian law over the conflict of laws, and choice of law to be applied in international torts cases..
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