Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/348

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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2nd Earl of Ducie, by Elizabeth, elder daughter of John, 2nd Lord Sherborne, was born on July 18th, 1834. He was educated at Rugby School, Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 1855 he arrived in Sydney, and in the next year proceeded to Queensland. In 1870 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Burnett, and in 1878 for Maryborough, and again for Burnett in 1883. In March 1883 he joined the Griffith Administration as Postmaster-General, but in the following month accepted the portfolio of Secretary of Public Instruction, which he exchanged for that of Colonial Secretary in April 1886. He retired with his colleagues in June 1888, having been appointed to a seat in the Legislative Council in the previous May, subsequently to his defeat at Burnett at the General Election by Mr. G. H. Jones. When Mr. Jones resigned in 1891, Mr. Moreton left the Legislative Council to contest the seat, but was again defeated.

Morgan, Frederick Augustus, discoverer of the Mount Morgan gold mine, was born in Sydney on June 21st, 1837. He spent his boyhood in Bathurst, and commenced life as a digger by joining with his uncle, Mr. John Woodward, who made the discovery which led to the Orphir rush, in 1851. After working with success there and at Golden Point and Golden Valley, he migrated to Warwick, Qd., in 1866, and engaged in mining at Thanes' Creek, and tinning at Stanthorpe, and was successful. He reached Rockhampton in Dec. 1879, and, after some prospecting, opened the Gallawa reef, near Mount Wheeler, and worked it for some years. He was then joined by his brothers—Thomas Squire Morgan, and Edwin Francis Morgan—and with them formed a prospecting party, which resulted in the discovery of Mount Morgan—the richest gold mine in the world. Mr. Morgan, who is largely interested in pastoral properties, is an Alderman of Rockhampton, and is prominently identified with local affairs in that town.

Morgan, Hon. Sir William, K.C.M.G., M.L.C., sometime Premier of South Australia, was a native of England, and emigrated to South Australia, where he arrived in Feb. 1849. He engaged in mercantile and pastoral pursuits, and was elected to the Legislative Council in 1867, and remained a member of the Upper House throughout his political career. He was Chief Secretary in Mr. (afterwards Judge) Boucaut's Ministry from June 1875 to March 1876, and took a leading part in giving effect to the public works policy associated with the latter gentleman's name. His retirement from the Boucaut Ministry, with a view of devoting himself to his private affairs, was one of the causes which necessitated the reconstruction of the Government. In Oct. 1877 Mr. Morgan again joined Mr. Boucaut as Chief Secretary, and held office under his premiership until Sept. 1878, when Mr. Boucaut accepted a seat on the Bench, and Mr. Morgan himself became head of the Government, holding office until March 1881, when a number of changes were made in the personnel of the Cabinet, which in its new shape only lasted till June 1881. Subsequently Mr. Morgan, who was created K.C.M.G., re-visited England, where he died in 1883. Sir William married, in 1854, Harriett, daughter of Thomas Matthews, of Hard's Hill, Coromandel Valley, S.A., who resides in Adelaide.

Morgan, William Pritchard, M.P., was born in 1844, and having been admitted a solicitor, practised at Newport, Monmouthshire. He emigrated to Queensland in 1867, and practised his profession in the north, where he gained a reputation as a mining lawyer. He also became largely interested in mining ventures in North Queensland. In 1885 he returned to England and established the mercantile firm of W. Pritchard Morgan & Co. in Queen Victoria Street, London. Subsequently, when the New South Wales contingent was offered for service in the Soudan, Mr. Morgan volunteered a handsome subscription towards sending a Queensland contingent to take part with the British forces in the campaign, Mr. Morgan now turned his attention to the mining industry in Wales, and having discovered gold in apparently payable quantities at Dolgelly, formed a company to work the auriferous deposits. In Oct. 1888 a vacancy occurred in the representation of Merthyr Tydvil in the House of Commons. Mr. Morgan thereupon became a candidate in the independent Liberal interest, and was returned by a very large majority over the official Liberal nominee. Both in and out of

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