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Byr] [Cad

DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.

menced auctioneering at Sandridge, now called Port Melbourne, and represented the district in the Melbourne Corporation prior to its being constituted a separate municipality. At the general election of 1864 he contested Sandridge for a seat in the Legislative Assembly in the Liberal interest against the Hon. David Moore, but was defeated by three votes, and was unsuccessful on petition. Shortly afterwards he was returned for Crowlands by a very large majority. In 1869, when Sir James MᶜCulloch went outside the House for a Commissioner of Customs, Mr. Byrne carried a motion censuring the Government, which was taken by them as a vote of want of confidence, on which they resigned, a new Ministry being formed on Sept. 20th, 1869, with the Hon. J. A. Macpherson as Chief Secretary and Mr. Byrne as Treasurer. When, however, the latter sought re-election at the hands of his constituents, he was defeated by Mr. Rolfe, the gentleman to whose appointment he had objected, and retired from office on Jan. 21st, 1870, being succeeded by Mr. (now Sir Graham) Berry. Mr. Byrne has not since re-entered public life.

Byrnes, Hon. Thomas Joseph, M.L.C., B.A., LL.B., Solicitor-General, Queensland, was born in Brisbane in Nov. 1860, and was educated at the Primary School, Bowen, where he won two State School Scholarships, and entered the Brisbane Grammar School, where he won the Lilley Gold Medal three times. Subsequently he was successful in the Junior Examination at Sydney University, and at the Melbourne University Matriculation Examination passed first on the list, and won an Exhibition to the University. He also won several scholarships and graduated with honours, taking the B.A. and LL.B. degrees. He was called to the bar in Victoria in 1884, and then returned to Queensland, where he read in the chambers of Mr. Real for one year, and commenced practice in 1885, speedily obtaining a leading position at the Supreme Court Bar. In August 1890 he accepted a seat in the Legislative Council, with the post of Solicitor-General in the Griffith-McIlwraith Ministry.

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Cadell, Francis, the principal explorer of the river Murray, was the son of Hugh Francis Cadell, of Cockenzie, near Preston Pans, Haddingtonshire, and was born in 1822, and educated at Edinburgh and in Germany. He entered as a midshipman on board an East Indiaman, and took part in the first Chinese war, being present at the siege of Canton and the capture of Amoy and Ningpo. At twenty-two he was in command of a vessel, and meanwhile visited the shipbuilding yards of the Tyne and Clyde, gaining a thorough knowledge of naval architecture and the construction of steam engines. He studied the subject of river navigation after a visit to the Amazon; and in 1848, when he arrived in Australia, his attention was drawn to the practicability of navigating the Murray and its tributaries, which had till then only served for watering flocks. Encouraged by the Governor of South Australia (Sir H. F. Young), he put his project into execution. He embarked in a small boat at Swanhill on the Upper Murray, and descended the stream to Lake Victoria at its mouth, a distance of 1300 miles. Having thus proved that the Murray was navigable, he succeeded in crossing the dangerous bar at its mouth in a steamer planned and constructed under his supervision, for the Murray Steam Navigation Company, of which he was the main promoter. .This vessel accomplished 1500 miles on her first voyage from Adelaide in 1853, when Captain Cadell had on board Sir H. F. Young and Lady Young and a large party of ladies and gentlemen. Other steamers were procured, and the Murrumbidgee, the Edward, and the Darling rivers in like manner opened to traffic in 1858. Captain Cadell, although he was preceded by Mr. Randell in the navigation of the Murray in a small steamer, was awarded the bonus of £4000 offered by the Government for opening up that river to the junction with the Darling to vessels of 40-horse power and not more than 2 feet draught. He was the object of several valuable presentations,

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