Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/452

 also written two novelettes of Australian life, one of which entitled "A Hundred Pounds" was published by Samuel Mullen of Melbourne.

Stephens, Samuel, the first manager of the South Australian Company, arrived at Nepean Bay, Kangaroo Island, by the Duke of York, on July 27th, 1836, and was the first settler to land on its shores. He married, whilst on his voyage out, Miss C. H. Beare, daughter of T. H. Beare, second in command under the Company. He was killed by a fall from his horse a few months after his arrival. Mr. David McLaren was appointed his successor, and arrived in 1837.

Stephens, Thomas, M.A., F.G.S., second son of the Rev. William Stephens, B.A., vicar of Levens, Westmoreland, England. The family came originally from the South of England, but a branch of it was settled for many years in County Cavan, Ireland, where they held considerable landed property. Mr. Stephens' grandfather was vicar of Castletown, Delvin, co. Westmeath. His father migrated to England, after being ordained, and remained, until his death in 1864, in charge of the Westmoreland parish. Mr. Thomas Stephens was born at Levens in 1830, received his education at Marlborough College, proceeding thence to Oxford in 1850. Here he entered first at Queen's College, where his elder brother, the late Professor Stephens, of Sydney University, was afterwards Fellow and Tutor; but subsequently obtained a scholarship at Magdalen Hall, now Hertford College. In 1854, he took his B.A. degree, and ten years later received that of M.A. In 1855 Mr. Stephens emigrated to Victoria, intending to follow pastoral pursuits, but was attracted to Tasmania in the following year, and in 1857 accepted the appointment of Inspector of Schools under the Northern Board of Education. On the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Boards in 1863 he was appointed Inspector of Schools for the Colony, a title subsequently altered to Chief Inspector of Schools. While occupying this position, Mr. Stephens had a large and important share in the organisation of the system of primary education, and was the first to introduce a standard of instruction for the schools, and a scheme of classification for teachers. On the passing of the Education Act in 1885, which placed the Department under the direct control of a Minister of the Crown, the offices of Chief Inspector and Secretary were amalgamated, and he was appointed permanent head, with the title of Director of Education. In the years 1861-2, he was an active member of the Northern Board of Works, under whose direction the principal lines of road through the then little known North-Eastern and North-Western districts were planned and commenced. Mr. Stephens is the author of a number of papers, chiefly on geological subjects, contributed to the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, of which Society he is one of the Vice-Presidents. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a member of the Council of the University of Tasmania.

Stephens, Hon. Thomas Blackett, M.L.C., son of a Baptist minister, was born at Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1819, and emigrated to New South Wales in 1849, Prior to this he 'had come under the personal influence of Cobden, Bright, and Ashworth, and took an active part in the agitation of the Anti-Corn Law League. In 1855 Mr. Stephens went to Moreton Bay, and about the time when that district was separated from the mother colony became proprietor of the Brisbane Courier. In 1869 it was sold to a limited company, in which Mr. Stephens retained an interest till 1873. Mr. Stephens, who was Mayor of Brisbane in 1862, founded the Queenslander, the admirable weekly journal still published in connection with the Courier. He represented South Brisbane in the Legislative Assembly for a number of years, and was Colonial Treasurer in the second Macalister Government from May to August 1867. In Nov. 1868 he again took office as Colonial Secretary in the Lilley Ministry, but relinquished this post for that of Colonial Treasurer in Jan. 1869, resigning with his colleagues in May 1870. Mr. Stephens was Postmaster-General, as well as Treasurer, from Nov. 1869 to Jan. 1870. In the last Macalister Government he was Secretary for Lands from Jan. 1874 to May 1875. On quitting the Assembly he was nominated to the Legislative Council. Mr. Stephens died in Brisbane on August 26th, 1877. 436