The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Adams, Robert Dudley
Adams, Robert Dudley, was born on July 9th, 1829, on board the Rotterdam packet, in which his mother was travelling to England. He was for a time private secretary to the Hon. Sidney Herbert (afterwards Lord Herbert of Lea), the popular War Minister. He arrived in New South Wales on Sept. 21st, 1851, and engaged in commercial and pastoral pursuits, in the intervals of which, between 1860 and 1880, he wrote a series of articles on "Australian Finance and Resource" for the English press and magazines, also for the colonial press, numerous political sketches, reviews, and essays, also two poems, the "Psalm of Time" and "Song of the Stars" (the latter subject suggested to him by the late Prince Albert). He has been a member of all the New South Wales Exhibition Commissions (except one), including that for Chicago.