Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/325

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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1856, when, with the rest of his father's family, he went to Melbourne, Vict., arriving on Jan. 10th, 1857. He matriculated at the Melbourne University in Oct. 1861, and graduated B.A. in 1864 and LL.B. in 1865, in which year he was gold medallist in law. He was admitted LL.D. in 1869, being the first member of the university who passed the course prescribed for that degree. On Sept 14th, 1865, he was admitted to the Victorian Bar, and has held, a leading position in his profession ever since. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1871 for the district of West Bourke, but at the ensuing general election in 1874 he was returned at the head of the poll for the district. In Oct. 1876 he accepted office as Minister of Justice in the MᶜCulloch Administration, but on going back to his constituency he was defeated by Mr. M. L. King. He continued, however, a member of the Government, and on July 27th, 1876, was elected member for Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), which he represented till 1883. He resigned office with his colleagues in May 1877 after the victory of Mr. Berry at the polls. He was again Minister of Justice under Mr. Service from March to August 1880. Dr. Madden, who has been Warden of the University of Melbourne, and is understood to have refused a judgeship on more than one occasion, has recently taken little active part in politics, but still holds a leading position in his profession.

Madden, Richard Robert, F.R.C.S., was the son of a Dublin merchant, and went into the medical profession. Subsequently he was appointed a special magistrate in Jamaica, and at a later date took part in a Commission of Inquiry into the Slave Trade on the west coast of Africa. He was for three years Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, and a member of the Executive and Legislative Councils. He died at Booterstown, near Dublin, on Feb. 5th, 1886. Dr. Madden was the author of the "Lives and Times of the United Irishmen" and other works.

Madden, Hon. Walter, M.L.A., brother of John Madden, was born at Cork in 1848, and went to Victoria in 1857. He began his career as a midshipman on the Victorian man of war Victoria, and studied marine surveying. When the vessel was put out of commission he turned his attention to land surveying, and entered the Survey Department of the Lands Office in 1865, becoming District Surveyor at Horsham. He was returned to the Assembly for the Wimmera in Jan. 1880, and still represents the constituency. He was Minister of Lands in the O'Loghlen Government from August 1881 to March 1883, and was sworn of the Executive Council. He has been Chairman of the country party in the Legislative Assembly, was Vice-President of the Commission on Vegetable Products appointed on his motion in 1886, and was a member of the Royal Commission on Irrigation and Water Supply.

Mair, Major William Gilbert, son of Gilbert Mair and Elizabeth (Pinkey) his wife, was born at the Bay of Islands, N.Z., on Nov. 20th, 1832. He served during the Maori war, and was in seventeen actions, being under fire on more than thirty occasions altogether. He was recommended by Colonel Haultain, Minister of Defence, for the decoration of the New Zealand Cross, for "personal valour before the enemy," and received the New Zealand war medal, and was twice mentioned in despatches. During the parley between General Cameron and the Maori insurgents at Orakau in 1864, Major Mair acted as interpreter and conveyed the General's message to Rewi Maniapoto calling upon the enemy to surrender at discretion, when he was fired upon, and the chiefs returned the now historical answer "Friend, we shall fight you for ever and ever!" Major Mair commanded the expedition against the East Coast rebels, resulting in the capture of Te Teko Pa and the surrender of the murderers of the Rev. C. S. Volkner and of Captain James Fulloon, Government agent, who were afterwards tried, convicted and executed. He also commanded the native contingent all through the Tauranga campaign in 1866-7, when he performed the act of personal valour for which he was recommended for the Cross. He was instrumental in obtaining the submission of the Maori king in 1882, when a hundred and twenty stand of arms were handed over to him in token of the King's sincerity. Major Mair was officially thanked by the Colonial Government on this and numerous other occasions. During the nine years of his occupancy

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