54 Facts About William Wentworth

William Charles Wentworth was an Australian pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures of early colonial New South Wales.

William Wentworth was the leading advocate for a political system of self-government in the Australian colonies that was controlled by affluent land-owning squatters, derided by his critics as the "bunyip aristocracy".

William Wentworth's father acknowledged him as a legitimate son and he became a part of colonial society as a Wentworth family member.

William Wentworth failed to gain entry into both the East India Company College and the Royal Military Academy and with his career prospects blunted, he returned to Sydney in 1810.

William Wentworth rode his father's horse Gig to victory at Hyde Park in the first official horse races on Australian soil.

In 1813 Wentworth, along with Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson, led the expedition which found a route across the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and opened up the grazing lands of inland New South Wales.

William Wentworth kept a journal of the exploration which begins by describing the first day of the journey:.

The town of William Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains commemorates his role in the expedition.

In 1814 William Wentworth continued his adventurous lifestyle by joining a sandalwood-getting voyage to the South Pacific aboard the Cumberland under Captain Philip Goodenough.

William Wentworth was nearly killed himself but with the aid of a pistol, he was able to flee to the Cumberland which sailed back to Sydney.

William Wentworth returned to England in 1816 where he studied law at the Magdalene and Peterhouse colleges at Cambridge University.

William Wentworth became a barrister and was admitted to the bar in 1822.

William Wentworth became involved in literary pursuits, publishing a number of notable works.

William Wentworth created a minor stir in 1816 by anonymously publishing a satirical verse attacking the Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, George Molle.

In between studying and writing, William Wentworth travelled to Europe, spending much of his time in Paris.

William Wentworth formulated an idea of establishing himself as a leader of a pastoral aristocracy in New South Wales and attempted to arrange his marriage with Elizabeth Macarthur, the daughter of the highly influential colonist John Macarthur.

William Wentworth however failed in this attempt after arguing with the Macarthur patriarch over his convict heritage and a loan.

William Wentworth returned to Sydney in 1824, accompanied by fellow barrister Robert Wardell.

William Wentworth actively campaigned for the introduction of self-government and trial by jury in the colony by establishing with Wardell The Australian newspaper, the colony's first privately owned paper.

William Wentworth became a director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1825.

In 1827, Wentworth's father, D'Arcy Wentworth, died and William inherited much of his highly valuable assets and property, becoming one of the wealthiest men in the colony.

William Wentworth purchased land in eastern Sydney at Vaucluse and built a mansion named Vaucluse House.

William Wentworth acquired property in Homebush and in 1827 he received a grant of 12,000 acres of prime land along the Hunter River at Luskintyre.

William Wentworth expanded his property holdings, obtaining large pastoral grazing licenses throughout New South Wales.

In 1839, William Wentworth led a consortium of Sydney speculators in an attempt to acquire large amounts of land in New Zealand by duping the resident Maori people.

However, by 1840 the political climate in New South Wales had changed and with William Wentworth becoming one of the wealthiest and most powerful landholders in the colony, his views became very conservative.

William Wentworth was elected to the Council in 1843 for City of Sydney and soon became the leader of the conservative party, opposed to the liberal-minded members led by Charles Cowper.

William Wentworth positioned himself in government as a vocal leader for the wealthy squatters and landowners.

William Wentworth vehemently opposed any reforms that threatened the status of this "squattocracy" class and was instrumental in the removal of Governor Gipps in 1846 who wanted to fund free emigration to the colony through additional tariffs on squatting licences.

William Wentworth treated them very poorly and had them punished with jail terms of hard labour for absconding.

William Wentworth became a strong supporter of corporal and capital punishment, wishing prisoners could be forced to work on treadmills.

William Wentworth openly advocated for the death penalty, considering it "beneficial to society".

In light of these sentiments, the Australian newspaper, the progressive paper that William Wentworth was no longer associated with, stated in the early 1850s that William Wentworth's opinions were now worth nothing.

In 1853 William Wentworth chaired the committee to draft a new constitution for New South Wales, which was to receive full responsible self-government from Britain.

William Wentworth's draft provided for a powerful unelected Legislative Council and an elected Legislative Assembly with high property qualifications for voting and membership.

William Wentworth suggested the establishment of a colonial peerage drawn from the landowning class.

William Wentworth described people without property as "idiots, unfit to have any voice" in parliament.

William Wentworth backed the introduction of a National School system in 1848 and in 1852 he helped found the University of Sydney.

In 1827 William Wentworth was the defense counsel for Lieutenant Nathaniel Lowe who was accused of shooting dead an Aboriginal prisoner.

William Wentworth stated to the court that Englishmen were justified in killing Aborigines as the law did not exist to protect people who were "one degree just above the beasts".

William Wentworth was very vocal in supporting the stockmen who were found guilty in 1838 of the slaughter of Aboriginal people during Myall Creek massacre.

In 1844, when there was a push to reform the judicial system to allow evidence to be given by Aborigines, William Wentworth was vociferous in his opposition.

Outside of the court-room, William Wentworth promoted the subjugation of Aboriginal people through more practical means.

The first Commandant of the Native Police for the northern districts, Frederick Walker, was a personal friend of William Wentworth's who managed his immense property at Tala on the Murrumbidgee.

William Wentworth encouraged the establishment and continued funding of the Native Police, a paramilitary force that perpetrated innumerable massacres upon Aboriginal people throughout the second half of the 19th Century.

William Wentworth retired from the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 1854 and sailed for England in March of that same year.

William Wentworth was heckled, hissed at and had his speech interrupted by the public during his departure ceremony at Circular Quay.

William Wentworth refused several offers of honours, and was a member of the Conservative Party and the Conservative Club.

William Wentworth died on 20 March 1872 at Merley House, Wimborne, Dorset, in England.

William Wentworth was given the colony's first state funeral on 6 May 1873, a day declared by the governor as a public holiday.

The William Wentworth Mausoleum was after constructed over his grave.

On 26 October 1829 at St Philip's Church Hill, Sydney, William Wentworth married Sarah Cox, with whom he had seven daughters and three sons:.

William Wentworth fathered at least one other child out of wedlock with Jamima Eagar, the estranged wife of Edward Eagar.

The William Wentworth Building, built in 1972 to accommodate the University of Sydney Union, was named after him.