The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Bonney, Charles
Bonney, Charles, was born at Sandon, near Stafford, on Oct. 31st, 1813, and educated at the Grammar School, Rugby. He went to Sydney in 1834 as clerk to Sir William Westbrooke Burton. In April 1837 he brought the first lot of cattle overland from New South Wales to Victoria for Mr. Ebden, and in April of the following year the first mob of cattle from N.S.W. to South Australia, in which colony he subsequently settled. From 1842 to 1857 he was Commissioner for Crown Lands, S.A. From Oct. 1856 to August 1857, was a member of the first Ministry formed under responsible government. Mr. Bonney was member for East Torrens in the Legislative Assembly from 1857 to 1858, and was a member of the Legislative Council in 1865 and 1866. He was Manager of Railways from 1869 to 1871, when he was appointed Inspector of "Lands Purchased on Credit." He now resides in Sydney.