Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/321

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

with the stamping out of bushranging, having assisted in repulsing an attack by the notorious Gilbert gang at Plumb's Inn, near Goulburn, in 1864, and he was also the recipient of a gold medal from the International Fisheries Exhibition of London for his book on the fishes of Australia. To the Linnæan Society he a few years back presented a meeting-house at Elizabeth Bay, adjoining his residence, where he provided everything necessary for meeting and for study. He also set apart a sufficient sum of money to endow four fellowships of £400 each yearly at the Sydney University, so that students might follow up their studies at the university after attaining the degree of B.Sc. By his will he bequeathed £20,000 to the Linnæan Society.

Macleay, William Sharp, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., eldest son of the late Hon. Alexander Macleay, M.L.C., F.R.S., was born in London on July 21st, 1792, and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with honours. In 1815 he was appointed Secretary to the Board of British Claims, arising out of the conclusion of the French war. In 1825 he was appointed Commissioner and Judge in the Mixed Tribunal of Justice at the Havannah. Ten years later he retired on a pension, and in 1839 arrived in New South Wales, where he was appointed a Trustee of the Australian Museum and a member of the National Board of Education. For a short time also he was a member of the Executive Council, under Sir William Denison. Mr. Macleay, who died on Jan. 26th, 1865, made entomology his principal study, but he was recognised as an authority on geology and zoology.

McLellan, Hon. William, M.L.A., was born at Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, on August 12th, 1831. He was educated at local schools, and was brought up to the trade of a builder. He left Scotland in June 1850 for Victoria, then a portion of New South Wales. When gold was discovered by Hargreaves, he went to Summer Hill and Turon diggings, New South Wales, and worked with some success. Returning to Victoria in July 1851, on discovery of gold there, he went to Ballarat and Forest Creek, and was amongst the first pioneers of Bendigo, where he worked at Golden Gully. After an extensive experience on the principal diggings, Mr. McLellan settled in Melbourne in 1853. In 1857, the time of the Canton Lead, he proceeded to Ararat, where fifty thousand miners were collected, and was elected a member of the Mining Board. In 1859, the amended Constitution Act having made Ararat an electoral district returning two members, he was returned to the Assembly by a large majority. Mr. McLellan represented Ararat till the general election in May 1877, when he was beaten by Mr. D. Gaunson by five votes. He had in the meantime been a member of three Ministries, taking office first as successor to Mr. I. G. Reeves as Commissioner of Public Works and Vice-President of the Board of Land and Works in Jan. 1870, and retiring with his chief, Mr. Macpherson, in April of the same year. He was subsequently Minister of Mines, under Mr. (now Sir) Charles Gavan Duffy from June 1871 to June 1872 and under Sir James M‘Culloch from Oct. 1875 to May 1877. Mr. McLellan remained out of Parliament till 1883, when he was re-elected for Ararat. He occupied the position of Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Assembly till 1892.

MacMahon, Captain Hon. Sir Charles, the third son of the late Right Hon. Sir William MacMahon, Bart., sometime Master of the Rolls, Ireland, by his second wife, Charlotte, daughter of Robert Shaw and sister of Sir Robert Shaw, 1st Bart., of Busby, co. Dublin, was born at Fortfield, in the county of Dublin, on July 11th, 1824. He joined the 71st Highland Light Infantry as ensign after seeing some service in Canada, and exchanged into the 10th Hussars, retiring from the army, after being invalided for sunstroke in India, with the rank of captain. Having decided to emigrate to Victoria, he arrived in Melbourne in Oct. 1852, and joined the police force in Jan. 1853, being for some time inspector of police in Melbourne, where he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police under Sir W. H. F. Mitchell, whom he ultimately succeeded in the Commissionership. The latter office he resigned in 1858, owing to a disagreement on a matter of discipline with the then Chief Secretary, Sir John O'Shanassy. He was elected for West Bourke in the Legislative Assembly in 1861, and, despite their previous difference, was a member of Sir John O'Shanassy's third Ministry, without

305