Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/167

 head of the department. Dr. Evans subsequently went to the colony of Victoria, and took a prominent part in the discussion of the various questions which agitated the early stages of its development under representative institutions. When responsible government was conceded he was returned to the first Legislative Assembly in 1856 for Richmond. He was Postmaster-General in the second  Ministry throughout the whole term of its existence, from March 1858 to Oct. 1859. When Sir left the Government in March 1859, Dr. Evans took the additional portfolio of Minister of Lands, which he held till the dissolution of the Cabinet. In the third O’Shanassy Government Dr. Evans was Postmaster-General from Dec. 1861 to June 1863. He was for a considerable period editor of the Melbourne Herald. Dr. Evans died on Sept. 23rd, 1868.

Evans, Gowen Edward, M.A., only son of the late Rev. Gowen Evans, M.A., of Potterspury, Northamptonshire, was born in 1826, and educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he matriculated in May 1845, and graduated B.A. in 1849 and M.A. in 1852. He entered at the Inner Temple in November of the latter year, and was called to the bar in Jan. 1864. His tastes tending in the direction of literature, he became a writer for the Spectator, and having become acquainted with Mr., one of the proprietors of the Melbourne Argus, he was selected by that gentleman, when he came to reside in England, to represent the Wilson interest in the management of the Argus. Mr. Gowen Evans went to Melbourne in that capacity in 1867, and has ever since taken a prominent part in the direction of the paper. Mr. Evans was admitted to the Victorian bar in 1867, and in the following year he received the honorary degree of M.A. from Melbourne University.

Everard, William, was one of the early pioneers of South Australia, having been present at the proclamation of the colony by Governor Hindmarsh in Dec. 1836. He did not enter political life till 1868, when he was returned to the Legislative Assembly for Encounter Bay, and subsequently sat in the Legislative Council from 1873 to 1878. Mr. Everard was Commissioner of Public Works in the Ministry, from Sept. to Oct. 1868; Commissioner of Crown Lands in the  Ministry, from July 1873 to June 1875; and Minister of Education in that of Mr. from March to June 1876. He was a member of the council of Adelaide University and of the governing boards of the Art Gallery, Museum, Public Library, and Botanic Gardens of Adelaide. He died, at the age of seventy, on August 25th, 1889.

Eyre, Edward John, son of the late Rev. Anthony Eyre, vicar of Hornsea and Long Riston, Yorks, was born on August 15th, 1815, and educated at Louth and Sedbergh Grammar Schools. In 1833 he emigrated to Sydney, and entered upon pastoral pursuits, with some success, in the Lower Murray district, where he was subsequently appointed Resident Magistrate and Protector of the Aborigines. Mr. Eyre early began to interest himself in exploration, and in 1836 conducted an expedition across the Australian continent from Sydney to Swan River, W.A. He was afterwards a settler in South Australia, and in 1840 started on a journey for the South Australian Government into the interior. His object was to explore Lake Torrens and penetrate to the heart of the continent. After visiting Lake Torrens, he struck into the Flinders Range; but, owing to the scarcity of food and water, found himself unable to proceed northwards through the impenetrable bush. At last he succeeded in rounding the Great Bight, whence he pushed on to King George's Sound, in the company of one Englishman (Baxter) and three aborigines. The party endured great privations, and after two months of hardship two of the natives murdered Baxter and decamped with the provisions. Mr. Eyre, left alone with a solitary aboriginal, pushed on, and was eventually rescued by a French whaling ship, the Mississippi, and reached Adelaide in July 1841. In 1845 he returned to England, and in 1847, when Earl Grey separated the colony of New Zealand into two provinces and appointed lieut.-governors, Mr. Eyre was nominated to this office for the South Island, Sir being then Governor-in-Chief. During his term of office he lived mostly at Wellington; but his powers as lieut.-governor were inconsiderable, owing to the overshadowing authority of the Governor-in-Chief. In 151