Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/389

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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registrar of the Court of Probate, Dublin, by Wilhelmina Charity, daughter of John McDonnell, M.D., Poor Law Commissioner. He was born on May 22nd, 1857, and entered the army. He was appointed second lieutenant 1st West India Regt. in Jan. 1881, lieutenant in July 1881, lieutenant 21st Hussars in Oct. 1882, and captain in August 1888. He became private secretary and aide-de-camp to Sir F. N. Broome, Governor of Western Australia, in Jan. 1889, and clerk of the Executive Council, and returned to England in 1890.

Pillinger, Hon. Alfred Thomas, M.H.A., Minister of Lands and Works, Tasmania, has been member for Oatlands in the House of Assembly since July 1876. In Oct. 1888 he joined the Fysh Government as Minister of Lands and Works, in succession to Mr. (now Sir) Edward Braddon.

Pirani, Frederick Joy, M.A., C.E., was born in Birmingham, England, in Dec. 1850. He arrived in Victoria in 1859, and went to the Church of England Grammar School, then under Dr. Bromley, in 1863. After being first in both classics and mathematics at the school, he matriculated at the Melbourne University in 1869, gaining the exhibitions for classics and mathematics. He studied in the schools of arts and engineering, obtained the degree of C.E. in 1870 and graduated as B.A. in 1871 and as M.A. in 1873. For some time he practised as a civil engineer, but he eventually accepted the position of assistant lecturer to the late Professor W. P. Wilson (q.v.),[1] on whose death in 1874 he was appointed acting Professor of Mathematics until the arrival of Professor Nanson. He was then appointed Lecturer in Logic and Natural Philosophy. He took a keen interest in the Royal Society of Victoria, of which he was Secretary for several years, and before which he read several papers, some of which appeared in the Society's Transactions. In conjunction with Professor H. M. Andrew (q.v.) he wrote a treatise on elementary geometry. It is understood that had he lived a few months longer he would have been promoted to the new Chair of Natural Philosophy at the University which the council had decided to establish. On June 7th, 1881, he married Miss Marian Kennick, and on July 30th in the same year he was thrown from his horse, sustaining injuries which proved fatal on August 6th.

Pitt, Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Charles Dean, R.A., officer commanding artillery, Victoria, was born on March 24th, 1851, and was appointed lieutenant Royal Artillery in August 1871, captain in May 1881, and major in Sept. 1887. From Feb. 1877 to Feb. 1880 he was aide-de-camp to the Governor of Bombay, and from 1881 to 1888 was Deputy and Assistant Quartermaster-General in the Presidency of Bombay. In March 1889 Major Dean-Pitt took the command of the Victorian Artillery forces, with the local rank of lieutenant-colonel.

Playford, Hon. Thomas, M.P., ex-Prime Minister of South Australia, son of the late Rev. Thomas Playford, of Bentham Street Chapel, Adelaide, and previously sergeant-major in the British army, was born in London in 1837, and came to South Australia with his father in 1843. For many years he was engaged in farming at Mitcham, whence he removed to the hills and took up gardening pursuits. He was for twenty-one years the chairman of the East Torrens District Council, for three years a member of the Central Road Board, and for four or five years the president of the Association of District Chairmen. He made his first appearance in Parliament in April 1868 as member for Onkaparinga, a district which he represented until Nov. 1871. He assisted Mr. Strangways in passing the first Land Bill which gave farmers the chance of taking up land on deferred payments. In 1872 he was defeated at Onkaparinga, but in Feb. 1875 was returned for East Torrens, which he continued to represent till the general election of 1884, when he was rejected, being returned for Newcastle on April 6th, 1887. He was again chosen for East Torrens, however, at the general election in April 1890. Mr. Playford was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration in Mr. Boucaut's three Administrations: Feb. 2nd to March 25th, 1876; March 25th to June 6th, 1876; and Oct. 26th, 1877, to Sept. 27th, 1878. He held the same office in Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Morgan's two administrations from Sept 27th, 1878, to 10th March, 1881, and from March 10th to June 24th, 1881. He was Commissioner of Public Works in Mr. Colton's first Ministry from June 16th, 1884, to Feb.

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  1. This person does not seem to appear in the work. (Wikisource contributor note)