Edward Hamersley (Jnr)

Edward Hamersley (1 September 1835 or 1836¹–14 January 1921) was a Western Australian pastoralist, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for nearly ten years.

Edward Hamersley was born in Paris on 1 September 1835. In 1837 his family emigrated to Western Australia, where his father Edward became a wealthy and prominent pastoralist. In 1843 the family returned to France, but again went to Western Australia in 1850, building a home at Guildford near Perth.

In 1853, Edward Hamersley took charge of his father's horse station "Richmond", in the Williams district. He was extremely unhappy at being sent away from the social scene at Guildford, and he managed the station poorly, prompting a contemporary John Wollaston to write:"Hamersley's horse station... seems to me quite an apology for a breeding establishment... not a bit of hay nor handful of corn to be had.... The native dogs destroy the foals as soon as dropped."In 1858, his younger brother took over the station, and Hamersley was transferred to "Wilberforce", another of his father's stations, located at York. In February 1867, Hamersley married Jane Dempster.

Later that year, the governor agreed to allow settlers to elect men whom he would then nominate to the Western Australian Legislative Council. Edwards stood for election, but was defeated by his father's former partner and later enemy Samuel Pole Phillips².

Western Australia having obtained representative government in 1870, Hamersley stood for election in 1874, and on 29 September was elected to the Legislative Council seat of Toodyay. Two months later, his father died, and Hamersley was bequeathed two of his father's stations, "Wilberforce" and "Woodside". He resigned his seat in the Legislative Council on 6 October 1875.

On 11 February 1880, Hamersley was elected to the Legislative Council seat of York. He did not stand for election in 1884 and so ceased to be a member on 27 October. After Western Australia gained responsible government in 1890, Hamersley was nominated to the Legislative Council on 24 December, serving until the Council became fully elective in June 1894. He then contested the Legislative Council seat of East Province, but was unsuccessful.

Edward Hamersley had seven sons and three daughters. He was widowed in April 1913, and died at York on 14 January 1921.

The Hamersleys were a well connected family, and Edward Hamersley was related by blood or marriage to a number of prominent Western Australian farmers and politicians. His father Edward was one of the leading Western Australian landholders of his day; his brother Samuel and nephew Vernon both became Members of the Legislative Council; William Locke Brockman was his uncle; his sister Margaret married Sir John Forrest; and his wife Jane was sister to Andrew and Charles Dempster.

References

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Notes

# Erickson (1979) states 1836, but Black and Bolton (2001) state 1835
# Erickson (1979) incorrectly states that Hamersley won the election but was overlooked in favour of Phillips; in fact Phillips polled 433 votes against Hamersley's 398.
# Erickson (1979) is primarily about Edward Hamersley Snr.

Persondata
NAME=Hamersley, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Hamersley, Edward, Jr
SHORT DESCRIPTION=politician
DATE OF BIRTH=1 September 1835 or 1 September 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH=Paris, France
DATE OF DEATH=14 January 1921
PLACE OF DEATH=York, Western Australia