Page:Notable South Australians.djvu/326

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276
NOTABLE SOUTH AUSTRALIANS;

market In 1848 he rode overland to Sydney, bringing down a mob of horses. In 1870 he was second in command of the central construction party of the Overland Telegraph, and in 1871, according to instructions, travelled with one white man and a native to meet the northern party. He reached the Catherine, and brought the first message through from R. C. Patterson, Esq., then chief in command. On returning to Adelaide Mr. Burt was appointed by Sir Thomas Elder on express service with camels, and afterwards as second in command with Colonel Warburton to proceed to Western Australia, but the latter arrangement was cancelled. At the present time he has been appointed by the Queensland Government to take up camels for their service in the back country. Mr. Burt is regarded as an authority on all matters connected with the colonization of this province, and his association with it from the earliest times, and practical experience, have eminently qualified him for the position he now fills. Of affable and genial manners, ever ready to advance the interests of others, even at the expense of his own, there are few pioneer settlers who have done more real good for society at large than the subject of this notice.


Mrs. Esther Solomon.

THIS lady, who was the widow of the late Samuel Moss Solomon, arrived in Sydney in the ship "Enchantress," in May 1833. She came to South Australia about the year 1852, and died on July 13, 1875, at Norwood, aged 100 years and six months. Mrs. Solomon is the only centenarian we have heard of in this colony, and she evidently came of a long-lived family. Her sister, who resided in London, died at the age of ninety-one years, and her aunt at the age of 105 years. Such remarkable instances of longevity are rare at the antipodes. Mrs. Solomon was of cheerful disposition and very witty and original in conversation.