1. William John Dumaresq was an English-born military officer, civil engineer, landholder and early Australian politician.
21 Facts About William Dumaresq
1. 2.
William Dumaresq is associated with settler colonisation of the areas around Scone and Armidale, in New South Wales.
3.
William Dumaresq attended the Royal Military College, Great Marlow, and became a civil engineer.
4.
William Dumaresq served in the Royal Staff Corps in the Peninsular War and in Canada.
5.
William Dumaresq was acting Deputy Surveyor-General in New South Wales.
6.
William Dumaresq's appointment was never confirmed, due to concerns about the many appointments Darling had made of his relatives and close associates.
7.
William Dumaresq is credited with the design of the Commissariat Store in Brisbane and a watch house in Sydney.
8.
William Dumaresq retired in 1829, after the death of Surveyor-General John Oxley and his replacement by Thomas Mitchell.
9.
From 1830, William Dumaresq was a magistrate of the Hyde Park Barracks Court of General Sessions, with Samuel Augustus Perry and James Busby.
10.
William Dumaresq had been granted a landholding there, by Darling, which he named St Aubins.
11.
William Dumaresq was a pioneer of horse breeding, in the Scone district, at St Aubins.
12.
William Dumaresq's land ran east-north-east, from modern-day Glebe Point Road, to the foreshores of Rozelle Bay and Blackwattle Bay.
13.
William Dumaresq represented the electorate of Counties of Hunter, Brisbane and Bligh.
14.
William Dumaresq was defeated for the seat at the 1848 New South Wales colonial election by Donald McIntyre, but was re-elected in 1851 as the member for Counties of Phillip, Brisbane and Bligh.
15.
William Dumaresq was appointed to the reconstituted Council in 1856, but resigned without taking his seat.
16.
William Dumaresq died at Cleveland on 9 November 1868.
17.
William Dumaresq's remains lie in the Camperdown Cemetery, in Sydney.
18.
William Dumaresq was interred, in one of the two vaults bearing the family name Macleay, presumably with his wife Christina and possibly with two of their children who predeceased Dumaresq.
19.
William Dumaresq is remembered by Dumaresq Reserve, a foreshore park in Rose Bay, The land that he sold at Glebe is a significant part of that inner suburb, and the heritage building Bidura is located upon one of the lots.
20.
William Dumaresq's land adjoined the original village on its north and east sides, and came close to its southern edge.
21.
Horse breeding, which William Dumaresq pioneered at Scone, is still an important industry in the surrounding area.