Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/382

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


of Council a joint trustee with Captain (now Lieut.-General Sir Andrew) Clarke, R.E., for the Melbourne and Mount Alexander Railway, purchased by Government. In 1856 Captain Pasley was elected to the first Legislative Assembly for South Bourke, and in March 1857 he resigned with the rest of the Ministry, but ultimately consented to remain as professional head of the Department of Public Works. The Houses of Parliament were amongst the public buildings erected under his direction, and some of the principal streets of Melbourne were laid out during his term of office. The last public building with which he was connected was the Melbourne Post Office, but this was not completed till after his return to England. Captain Pasley also took great interest in the Botanic Gardens and the Herbarium, which was built under his auspices. In 1860 he resigned his connection with the Public Works Department, with the intention of returning to England; but his interest in the welfare of the colony of Victoria and of the city of Melbourne was as keen as ever in after years. Before his departure from the colony the New Zealand war broke out, and he immediately offered his services, which were accepted the same day, and he was appointed an extra member of Major-General (afterwards Sir Thomas) Pratt's staff. Three months later he was severely wounded by a bullet in the thigh, while in charge of the trenches, after laying out and constructing a parallel needed in the capture of the Kaihihi Pas. His wound proving serious, he became unfit for further duty, and returned to Melbourne invalided. For his services in New Zealand he was mentioned in despatches, and promoted to brevet-major, he having become captain soon after his arrival in Melbourne. In 1864 he was employed as Acting Agent-General for the colony of Victoria, a temporary appointment which he held for four years, with leave from the War Office, and afterwards from the Admiralty, to accommodate the colony until they could make a permanent appointment. In this capacity he superintended on behalf of the colony the equipment of the Nelson, and the design, construction, armament and despatch of the Cerberus turret-ship. He again acted as Agent-General for Victoria from 1880 to 1882. From 1873 to 1882 he held the Imperial appointment of Director of Works of the Navy, in succession to Sir Andrew Clarke. General Pasley, who died at Chiswick on Nov. 11th, 1890, married at Hampton, on March 29th, 1864, Charlotte, eldest daughter of the late John Roberts, of Barzell, Sussex, who survives him.

Pater, Thomas Kennedy, S.M., eldest son of John Pater, of London, solicitor, was born in 1838. He entered at Lincoln's Inn in Sept. 1856, and was called to the Bar in June 1859. Having emigrated to Victoria, he practised his profession there, but left that colony and entered the public service of South Australia in March 1884, being appointed a special magistrate and Judge of the Northern Territory in October of that year. In 1890 he was appointed special magistrate at Port Adelaide.

Paterson, Alexander Stewart, M.D., Colonial Surgeon, South Australia, became L.R.C.S. Edinburgh in 1856, M.D. Edinburgh in 1857, M.D. Melbourne in 1865, and M.D. Adelaide in 1877. He was appointed Resident Medical Officer of the Adelaide Lunatic Asylum in April 1867, and Colonial Surgeon in Jan. 1870, both of which positions he still holds.

Paterson, Hon. William, M.L.A., was born on May 10th, 1830, at Hobart, but emigrated to Victoria, and was a councillor of the city of Melbourne prior to August 1864, when he went to Queensland, and commenced business at Rockhampton, where he acquired a large interest in the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company. Mr. Patterson, who has been Mayor of Rockhampton, succeeded Mr. Archer in the representation of Blackall in 1886, was elected for Rockhampton in 1888, and was a minister without portfolio in the McIlwraith Ministry from June to Nov. 1888. On the reconstitution of the Ministry he was Colonial Treasurer under Mr. Morehead from Nov. 1888 to Nov. 1889, when he resigned the Treasurership. He was minister without portfolio till the retirement of the Morehead Government in August 1890.

Patterson, Hon. James Brown, M.L.A., J.P., was born at Alnwick, Northumberland, on Nov. 18th, 1833, and is the youngest son of the late James Patterson, district road inspector. He emigrated to Victoria in 1852, and went to the Forest Creek goldfields. In 1856 he was engaged

366