Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/273

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Kei]
DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
[Ken

the Government to organise an expedition into the interior for the pursuit of Te Kooti and his band of murderous fanatics. Of this force he took the chief command himself, and became known among the natives as 'General Kemp.' Starting from the head waters of the Wanganui, he pursued the enemy across the Murimotu plains to the East Coast, and thence back into the Ohiwa mountains, where, after much hard fighting, he succeeded in breaking up and dispersing Te Kooti's band." General Whitmore stated in the Legislative Council that he was personally worth any two hundred ordinary men in the field. Major Kemp still lives at Wanganui, where he devotes himself principally to the elucidation of the tribal titles in the Native Land Court.

Keilly, Henry, was for twenty years musical and dramatic critic of the Melbourne Argus. He died on March 7th, 1889, aged fifty-eight years.

Kemble, Myra (Mrs. White), was born in Ireland, but was taken in early life to Australia, where she was educated at the Geelong Convent School in Victoria, so that she is generally ranked among Australian-born artistes, amongst whom she is one of the most popular and capable. For some years she held the place of "leading lady" in various companies, and has been equally a favourite in all the cities of Australia and New Zealand. In 1890 Miss Kemble paid her first visit to England, when she purchased the colonial "rights" of Dr. Bill, by Hamilton Aidé, and other pieces. During her sojourn in London Mr. Robert Buchanan wrote a play, entitled Man and the Woman, specially for the popular colonial actress, who produced it at a matinée at the Criterion, where, however, despite excellent acting, it did not prove successful. After Miss Kemble's return to Sydney she made a brilliant reappearance at the Criterion Theatre in that city in Dr. Bill, and she has since been touring in the various colonies.

Kendall, Henry Clarence, the well-known poet, was the grandson of a missionary who worked under the indefatigable Samuel Marsden. He was the son of Basil Kendall and Melinda MᶜNally, his wife, and was born at Ulladulla, N.S.W., in 1842. He went to sea in a South Sea whaling ship, and was afterwards clerk to a lawyer. He commenced his literary career by contributing poems to the Empire newspaper in Sydney, and one or two of his pieces found admission to the London Athenæum. In 1862 he published "Poems and Songs," which he suppressed in 1865, owing to what he regarded as their crudity. In 1863 he obtained a situation in the New South Wales Lands Office, and was subsequently employed in the Colonial Secretary's Department, but resigned in 1869; and went to Melbourne, where he contributed largely to the press, and gained a prize for the best poem on an Australian subject. He was prominently associated with Marcus Clarke, George Gordon McCrae, and other Melbourne littérateurs, in the attempt to establish a high-class literary magazine, the Colonial Monthly, which, however, proved a failure. He also, in conjunction with Mr. C. E. Horsley, composed the cantata for the opening of the Melbourne Town Hall. Mr. Kendall subsequently returned to New South Wales, and wrote the cantata for the opening of the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879. He published two other volumes—"Leaves from an Australian Forest" and "Songs from the Mountains," the former his chef d’œuvre. He was much indebted throughout his life to the friendship of Sir Henry Parkes, who conducted the Empire, in which his maiden efforts at versification appeared. He married, in 1867, a daughter of Dr. Butter, of Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Mr. Kendall died at Redfern, near Sydney, on August 1st, 1882.

Kennaway, Walter, C.M.G., is a native of Devonshire, being a member of the family of which Sir J. H. Kennaway, Bart., M.P. for the Honiton District, is the head. Mr. Kennaway went to Canterbury, N.Z., in 1853, and for fifteen years confined his attention to farming. In 1868 he was elected member of the Provincial Council of Canterbury, and in 1870 he became a leading member of the Provincial Government, holding the offices of Provincial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works from Oct. 1870 to Jan. 1874. While Secretary for Public Works, the construction of the first railways, under Sir Julius Vogel's Public Works scheme, came under his charge, and the contract for the important harbour works at Lyttelton was entered into. Mr. Kenna-

257