Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/15

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PREFACE.
vii

has supplemented the stores of information which I have derived from his works with much valuable data personally conveyed; my old friend Mr. A. M. Topp, of the Melbourne Argus; Mr. Alexander Sutherland, the well-known Australian littérateur; and Mr. J. F. Hogan, whose "Irish in Australia" is a mine of biographical detail, and to whose personal assistance I am also greatly beholden. My South Australian biographies would have been sadly incomplete but for the aid I derived from my friend Mr. J. L. Bonython, of the Adelaide Advertiser, and from Mr. F. Johns, of the South Australian Register, who, through the medium of the proprietor of that paper, Mr. R. Kyffin Thomas, kindly cleared up for me a number of troublesome queries and essential dates. The New Zealand portion of my work owes a heavy debt to Mr. Leys, of the Auckland Star, who kindly forwarded a number of biographies and carefully checked others. Mr. George Fenwick, of the Otago Daily Times, has also helped me materially; and I have to thank Sir Walter Buller for a valuable element in the insertion of a number of Maori biographies. Through Mr. Fenwick I was fortunate enough to enlist the aid of Dr. Hocken, of Dunedin, an expert and enthusiast in all that concerns New Zealand history and antiquities, and who kindly placed his fine library at my disposal. To my wife I owe thanks for invaluable aid in the work of transcription, and to Mr. David and Mr. Joseph Cowen Syme, of Melbourne, for much kindly assistance in promoting the success of the work.

Taking the colonies separately, I have to acknowledge valuable help as regards New South Wales from Mr. F. W. Ward, the late editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, from Mrs. Ward, and from Mr. C. A. W. Lett and Mr. Gilbert Parker; Victoria: Hon. J. F. Vesey Fitzgerald, Hon. Alfred Deakin, Mr. George Syme, Mr. T. S. Townend, and Mr. Charles Short, of the Melbourne Argus, Mr. Julian Thomas, and Mr. H. Britton; Queensland: Mr. Buzacott, Mr. Brentnall, and Mr. Gresley Lukin; Western Australia: Sir John and Lady Forrest, Sir James G. Lee Steere, Hon. G. W. Leake, M.L.C., Hon. J. W. Hackett, M.L.C.,and Mr. F. Hart; New Zealand: Mr. H. Brett, Mr. W. L. Rees, M.H.R., Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Christchurch; Mr. T. E. Richardson, Wellington; Mr. Hart, The Press, Christchurch; and Mr. Ahearne, Lyttelton Times, Christchurch.

In regard to matter drawn from books, my first acknowledgments are due to Mr. David Blair's "Encyclopædia of Australasia," of which a second edition is much called for. I must also mention, as having supplied me with much excellent material, Mr. George Rusden's "History of Australia" and "History of New Zealand," "Victorian Men of the Time," "Victoria and its Metropolis," McCombie's "History of the Colony of Victoria," Mr. James Bonwick's "Port Phillip Settlement," Mr. George E. Loyau's "Representative Men of South Australia," Stow's "South Australia," "The Statistical Register of South Australia," Mr. H. Brett's "Heroes of New Zealand" and "The Early History of New Zealand," Mr. Gisborne's "New Zealand Balers and Statesmen," Mr. Alfred Cox's "Men of Mark of New Zealand"