Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/139

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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district, where he continued squatting. He is author of "Australian Aborigines," published in 1881 (Robertson, Melbourne).

Day, William Henry, is the son of the late Captain John Day, 49th Regiment, by Emily, only daughter of Jan Caspar Hartsinck. Mr. Day, who is a brother of Mr. Justice Day, was born on May 13th, 1828, and educated at St. Gregory's College, Downside, Bath. In Dec. 1854 he arrived in Melbourne, and went to Queensland in the following year. From 1859 to 1862 he was a clerk in the Colonial Secretary's office, and afterwards clerk of Petty Sessions until 1874, when he was appointed Acting Police Magistrate. In 1883 he received the appointment of Water Police Magistrate, and also became Second Police Magistrate in 1884. He was a member of the Education Board when it was first established, and has been Police Magistrate of South Brisbane since 1888. He married Margaret Ellen, only daughter of the late Captain Tom Buttanshaaw, R.N., a pioneer colonist; and Mrs. Henry Day has contributed in prose and verse to various Queensland papers.

Deakin, Hon. Alfred, M.L.A., J.P., ex-Chief Secretary of Victoria, is the son of William Deakin, a well-known coach proprietor in the early days of the colony, and an emigrant from England, his mother being the daughter of a farmer in Monmouthshire. He was born at Fitzroy, Melbourne, on August 3rd, 1856, and educated at the Church of England Grammar School, under Dr. Bromby, and at the Melbourne University, but did not graduate. He was called to the Victorian bar in 1877, and adopted the profession of journalism, being connected with the editorial department of the Melbourne Age and Leader from 1878. He was elected to the Assembly for West Bourke in Feb. 1879, as a supporter of the second Berry Ministry, defeating Mr. R. Harper by fifty-six votes. There was one drawback to this gratifying success, that at Newham, an inconsiderable polling place, a complete poll was not taken. The result could not in any case have been altered, as if all the votes bad gone to his adversary they would not have exceeded at the outside thirty. Still, Mr. Deakin felt it a matter of principle, as a Liberal, that a full ballot should be taken; and so, after taking his seat and moving the address in reply to the Vice-regal speech when the House met in July, he, without any consultation with supporters or opponents, resigned his seat, much to the chagrin of a good many of the former, who thought his conduct Quixotic. At the election which ensued he again had Mr. Harper as an opponent, and after one of the severest contests on record was defeated by fifteen votes on a total poll of 4000. The strain had been so severe that, in order to recruit his health, Mr. Deakin went on a trip of some months to Fiji and the South Sea Islands. On his return he recurred to politics, and at the general election in Feb. 1880 again stood for West Bourke; but although he polled a larger vote he was thirteen behind Messrs. Harper and Stoughton. Five months later, Mr. Service, who had succeeded Mr. Berry, was beaten on his Reform Bill, and appealed to the country, when Mr. Deakin once more wooed the suffrages of West Bourke; this being the fourth time within eighteen months. On this occasion he was returned at the head of the poll along with Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, and continued to represent the district until 1889, when he was returned for Essendon and Flemington. Mr. Deakin married Pattie, eldest daughter of Hugh Junor Browne of Melbourne, on April 3rd, 1882. He was Commissioner of Public Works from March 8th to Nov. 13th, 1883; Commissioner of Water Supply from March 8th, 1883, to Feb. 18th, 1886, and Solicitor-General from Nov. 13th, 1883, to April 23rd, 1884, in the Service-Berry Coalition Government. In 1883 he carried an amending Water Conservation Act, which was the first measure passed in Australia providing for public irrigation on a large scale, and became President of the Royal Commission on Irrigation and Water Supply. In the latter capacity be visited America, with the view of investigating the various systems of irrigation in force in that country, and on his return prepared a report, of which 10,000 copies were, at the request of agricultural societies, distributed throughout the colony, and the recommendations of which have been endorsed by some of the highest authorities in England and elsewhere. In the same year Mr. Deakin became sponsor for another ameliorative measure, which, though mainly based

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