11 Facts About Edward Henty

Edward Henty, was a pioneer British colonist and is regarded as the first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district, Australia.

Edward Henty's father inherited £30,000 and bought the property generally called the Church Farm at West Tarring, and bred high value Merino sheep, some of which were purchased by capitalist entrepreneurs in the Australian colonies such as John Macarthur.

Edward Henty arrived in April 1832 with Edward and the three remaining siblings Charles, Jane and Francis.

Edward Henty reported that the district near Portland Bay had good possibilities, and after revisiting it with his father, it was decided that the land was suitable for settlement.

Edward Henty went first on the Thistle with labourers, stock, potatoes and seed.

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The Edward Henty brothers engaged on bay whaling at Portland in the 1830s.

British government had been keen to have land taken up in Western Australia and the Edward Henty's had assumed no objections would be raised to their obtaining land in the Port Phillip district.

Edward Henty was determined to continue with his settlement; his brother, Francis, had joined him in December 1834, and during the next five years other members of the family joined him, and gradually all of their horses, cattle and sheep were transferred from Tasmania.

In 1855 Edward Henty was elected a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Normanby and was re-elected in 1859.

Edward Henty was defeated in 1861 and did not sit again in parliament.

Edward Henty's portrait is in the historical collection at the Melbourne public library.