Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/188

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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Bunbury, and became first Premier and Treasurer of Western Australia under responsible government. In March 1891 he represented the colony at the Sydney Federation Convention, and in June 1891 he was created K.C.M.G.

Forrest, Hon. William, M.L.C., is a member of the well-known Queensland firm of B. D. Morehead & Co., and was appointed to the Legislative Council on March 15th, 1883. He has been long and extensively engaged in pastoral pursuits in Queensland and the neighbouring colonies.

Forster, Anthony, was for some time editor of the South Australian Register. In 1855 he was elected to the Mixed Legislative Council for West Adelaide, in opposition to Mr. (afterwards Sir James) Hurtle Fisher. The seat was, however, declared vacant by the Court of Disputed Returns in November, Mr. Forster being re-elected in Jan. 1856. When the present Constitution Act came into force, Mr. Forster was elected to the Legislative Council in March 1857, and sat till Feb. 1861, when he retired by rotation, but was immediately re-elected, and sat till Dec. 1864, when he resigned. He has published "South Australia: its Progress and Prosperity" (London, 1866).

Forster, Hon. William, was born at Madras in 1818, and came to Australia at eleven years of age. He was educated at Cape's School, in Sydney, and became a squatter early in life. Mr. Forster soon attained prominence as a politician, but in his early career was better known as a satirical versifier and an incisive contributor to the press. He was elected at different times to the Lower House for East Sydney, St. Leonards, the Hastings, Queanbeyan, Illawarra, and Murrumbidgee. In his place in parliament he was a severe critic of the education policy of the Cowper Administration formed in 1857, and on their defeat on this question in Oct. 1859 he himself formed an administration, which, however, only lasted till the following March. Mr. Forster was Colonial Secretary in Mr. (afterwards Sir) James Martin's first Ministry from Oct. 1863 to Feb. 1865, and Secretary for Lands in Mr. (now Sir) John Robertson's second Ministry and the succeeding Cowper Ministry from Oct. 1868 to April 1870. In Feb. 1875 he again took office under Sir John Robertson, this time as Colonial Treasurer—a post which he held till the following February, when he resigned to become Agent-General of the Colony of New South Wales in London. This post he held for three years, when he was recalled by the Parkes Ministry, and returned to New South Wales, where he died on Oct. 30th, 1882. Mr. Forster whilst resident in London, published The Weir-Wolf, a Tragedy. He also published "Political Presentments" in 1879, and was the author of two other poetical works, "The Brothers" and "Midas"— the latter issued posthumously.

Fosbery, Edmund Walcott, J.P., Inspector-General of Police, New South Wales, was born at Wotton, in Gloucestershire, in 1833, and educated at the Royal Naval School, New Cross. He went to Melbourne in 1852, and was employed in the police department. Ten years later, when the New South Wales Constabulary was reorganised, he was appointed Secretary to the Force, and Superintendent and Deputy Inspector-General. In Oct 1874 he succeeded the late Captain M‘Lerie as Inspector-General.

Foster, Hon. William John, Puisne Judge, New South Wales, son of, the Rev. W. H. Foster, of Lough Gilly, co. Armagh, by Catherine, daughter of James Hamilton, of Brown Hall, Donegal, and niece of the first Duchess of Wellington, was born on Jan. 13th, 1831, at Rathescar, co. Louth, the residence of his uncle, John Leslie Foster, Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer. He was educated at Cheltenham College, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took the Vice-Chancellor's prize for Greek in 1850, also the composition prize in the same year, as well as honours in classics and mathematics. He left the University in 1851, and arrived in Sydney in August 1854, and for the first three years of his residence in New South Wales devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. He then studied law, and was called to the colonial bar in 1858, when he entered on the practice of his profession. In 1859 he published a work on the District Courts Act, which was the standard work on the subject until 1870, when a revised edition was issued. In 1877 be published a supplement to the same work. He acted as a Crown prosecutor from 1859 to 1862 and from 1864

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