EDWARD JOHN EYRE

'Edward John Eyre' (5 August, 1815 - 30 November, 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent and a controversial Governor of Jamaica. South Australia's Lake Eyre, Eyre Peninsula, Eyre Creek, and Eyre Highway (the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia) are named in his honour, as are the villages of Eyreton and West Eyreton in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Contents

Early life

South Australian expeditions

Colonial Governor

See also

References

Further reading

Early life

Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to Hornsea, Yorkshire, where he was christened^[1]. His parents were Rev. Anthony William Eyre and Sarah (nee Mapleton)^[2]. After completing grammar school at Louth and Sedbergh, he moved to Sydney rather than join the army or go to university. He gained experience in the new land by boarding with and forming friendships with prominent gentlemen and became a flock owner when he bought 400 lambs a month before his 18th birthday^[3]. When South Australia was found, Eyre brought 1000 sheep and 600 cattle overland from Monaro, New South Wales to Adelaide and sold them for a large profit. He also discovered Lake Eyre.

South Australian expeditions

With this money, Eyre set out to explore the interior of South Australia, with two separate expeditions north to the Flinders Ranges and west to beyond Ceduna.
Eyre, together with his adolescent Aboriginal companion Wylie, with whom he is thought to have been on intimate terms,^[4] was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain by land in 1840-1841, on an almost 2000 mile trip to Albany, Western Australia. He had originally led an expedition with John Baxter and three aborigines. Two of the aborigines killed Baxter and left with most of the supplies, and Eyre and Wylie were only able to survive because they were rescued by a French whaling ship which at Rossiter Bay, under the command of Captain Rossiter, chanced to be there. Eyre named the bay after the captain.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining peace between white settlers and aborigines along the Murray River.

Colonial Governor

He later served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster province in New Zealand (from 1848 under Sir George Grey) and later Governor of several Caribbean island colonies. Whilst Governor of Jamaica he suppressed the Morant Bay Rebellion ruthlessly, and had many black peasants killed. He also authorised the execution (or judicial murder) of George William Gordon, a mixed-race colonial assemblyman (his father was a Caucasian planter) who was suspected of involvement in the insurrection.
These events created great controversy in Britain, resulting in demands for Eyre to be arrested and tried for murdering Gordon. John Stuart Mill organised the Jamaica Committee, which demanded his prosecution and included some well-known British liberal intellectuals
(such as John Bright, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Thomas Hughes and Herbert Spencer). A rival committee was set up by Thomas Carlyle for the defence, arguing that Eyre had acted decisively to restore order. His supporters included John Ruskin, Charles Kingsley, Charles Dickens and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Twice Eyre was charged with murder, but the cases never proceeded.

See also

★ European Exploration of Australia

References

1. History Steve Pocock
2.
3. Hero and Tyrant:Edward John Eyre's Legacy Kevin Koepplinger
4. Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience, Ronald Hyam; p47

Further reading

★ Short biography

★ Eyre's ''Journals'' from his 1840/1 expedition

★

★ Geoffrey Dutton, ''Edward John Eyre: the Hero as Murderer'', Penguin, 1977.