Edward John Eyre
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Edward John Eyre (5 August, 1815 - 30 November, 1901).
Born in Hornsea, Yorkshire, Eyre was an English land explorer of the Australian continent. Lake Eyre and the Eyre Peninsula, both in South Australia, and the Eyre Highway (the main highway from South Australia to Western Australia) are named in his honour.
Eyre, together with his Aboriginal companion Wylie, was the first European to traverse the coastline of the Great Australian Bight and the Nullarbor Plain by land in 1840-1841.
In addition to exploring inland South Australia and New South Wales, Eyre was instrumental in maintaining harmony between white settlers and aborigines along the Murray River. He later served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand (from 1846 under Sir George Grey) and later Governor of several Caribbean island colonies. Whilst Governor of Jamaica a rebellion was put down ruthlessly which resulted in the deaths of several hundred demonstrators. He subsequently became known locally as the Butcher of Jamaica.
External links
- http://www.davidreilly.com/australian_explorers/eyre/edward.htm
- Dictionary of Australian Biography (http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogE.html#eyre1)
Publications
- Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1 (http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=5346) - the text of Eyre's Journals, courtesy of Project Gutenberg
| Preceded by: Richard Graves MacDonnell | Lieutenant Governor of St. Vincent 1854–1861 | Succeeded by: Anthony Musgrave |
| Preceded by: Charles Henry Darling | Governor of Jamaica (acting before 1864) 1862–1865 | Succeeded by: Sir Henry Knight Storks Template:End boxde:Edward John Eyre pl:Edward John Eyre Template:Australia-bio-stub |