upon it from the south, Mr. Archer started in 1848 across the Main Range to Jimbour, then occupied by Sir Joshua Peter Bell. From Jimbour he set off, accompanied by Mr. Arthur Chauvelle and a black boy, to find a way to Fitzroy Downs; and after a fortnight's scrambling through scrubs and over mountains, one of which he named Mount Horrible, they emerged upon Fitzroy Downs, and saw Mount Abundance in the distance, and then returned half-starved to Darling Downs, having for a week existed on blackducks and tea. Fitzroy Downs being too distant to be taken up by small squatters, Mr. Archer set off on another exploration trip to the Upper Burnett River, where he discovered two runs, which were afterwards named Eidsvold and Coonambula. From here they opened a road to Wetherun Station, then held by Messrs. Humphries and Herbert, and were the first—or among the first—who took a load of wool to Maryborough, and shipped it, in that now flourishing port, for Sydney, in a forty-ton schooner. After about a year on the Burnett, Mr. Archer set off in 1849 for California; and, after three years there, returned to England viâ Panama. He was absent from the colony about four years, and in 1853, shortly before he returned, his brothers Charles and William explored what was afterwards Gracemere Station, and discovered and named the Fitzroy River. The portion of the Dee Range, from which they obtained their first view of Gracemere, was not far from the now world-renowned Mount Morgan, but no portion of it ever fell to their lot. Gracemere was occupied and stocked in 1854–5. A sailing-boat, Elida, was built at Maryborough, and in her one of Mr. Archer's younger brothers, Colin, with one man, sailed with a cargo of supplies, via Gladstone and Keppel Bay, up the Fitzroy—then unsurveyed, and to white men unknown—the cargo being landed on a wharf made of slabs and saplings, on the spot where now stands the Government wharf at Rockhampton. Mr. Archer's brothers also gave Norwegian names—Berserker and Sleipner—to hills on the north side of the Fitzroy, Norway having been their home in their boyhood. About a year after Gracemere was occupied, Charles Archer, in company with Mr. Wiseman, police magistrate, after much exploration and discussion, fixed upon the site for a township, Mr. Wiseman naming it Rockhampton, that name being adopted on account of the rocky bar above the town, which blocks navigation for large vessels. Mr. Archer, having revisited England, returned to the Colony in 1871, remaining until 1878, when he finally took up his residence in England. He was appointed Acting Agent-General for Queensland in London in July 1881, and Agent-General in Nov. 1881. From this post he retired in May 1884, but was reappointed on Sir Thomas McIlwraith's return to power in June 1888, but again resigned on Dec. 10th, 1890. Mr. Archer was created C.M.G. in 1884. He was married in 1853, at Perth, N.B., to Grace Lindsay, daughter of James Morison, of Muirton, Perth. His eldest son, Mr. William Archer, is the well-known author and dramatic critic.
Armytage, George, son of George Armytage, who died in Australia in 1853, having emigrated at the age of eighty-seven, was born at Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, in 1795, and was educated at schools in Yorkshire. He subsequently studied engineering in London until his twentieth year, when, on Feb. 28th, 1815, he sailed for Australia in the Hebe, which reached Sydney in August. In the following year he landed in Tasmania, where he was allotted a few acres of land at Bagdad, which were increased to 500 acres in 1817. In 1826 he received a further grant of 1000 acres, built upon it the first watermill in Tasmania, and, in spite of troubles with blacks and bushrangers, became successful. In 1835 Port Phillip commenced to attract settlers; and in 1836 his eldest son Thomas visited the district, and camped on the Werribee. In 1847 Mr. Armytage proceeded to Victoria, and settled upon his son George Armytage's station at Ingleby, where his eldest son had died of typhus fever on Sept. 12th, 1842. In 1851 he settled at Geelong, and built "The Hermitage." In 1818 he married Miss Elizabeth Peters. He died of erysipelas in 1862, his widow surviving him till 1873.
Arney, Sir George Alfred, seventh son of William Arney, of The Close, Salisbury, by Maria Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Greene White, of Kew Green, Middlesex, was born in 1806, and educated at Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1829
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