Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/531

 critic of the political administration of Mr., the superintendent of the district of Port Phillip. The reception which his vigorous letters received induced him to turn his thoughts to journalism, and in 1847 he purchased the Melbourne Argus from Mr. Wm. Kerr, incorporating with it the Patriot, which was the lineal descendant of the first newspaper published in Melbourne. A few years later the Daily News was bought and merged in the Argus, which was conducted with such indomitable energy and enterprise, and such conspicuous literary ability by Mr. Wilson, that it prospered immensely, notwithstanding the difficulty of producing a daily paper in such a disorganised state of society as resulted from the outbreak of the gold fever in 1852. Prior to this Mr. Wilson had taken a leading part in the resistance which was offered by the colonists to the influx of convicts from Tasmania, and which led to the passing of the Convicts Prevention Act. He strenuously supported the separation of Port Phillip from New South Wales; he cooperated earnestly with the Anti-transportation League founded in 1851; he denounced the unjust and irritating conduct of Governor towards the mining population; he largely contributed to secure the establishment of responsible government in the colony; and he was the first to advocate a popular land policy, and the recession of the pastoral tenants of the crown before the advance of agricultural settlement. He was also the founder of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, and is credited with the distinction of having introduced the lark, thrush, and other British songbirds, as well as the sparrow, into Australia. After many years of severe intellectual labour, Mr. Wilson, in 1857, returned to England, but revisited Australia and New Zealand in the following year, finally settling at Hayes, in Kent, in 1864, where he lived a life of dignified retirement until Jan. 10th, 1878, when his death took place as the result of a paralytic seizure. He was one of the founders of the Colonial Institute in 1868, and was ever earnest in promoting any movement calculated to benefit the colony he had been largely instrumental in calling into existence.

Wilson, Hon. Sir James Milne, Knt., M.L.C., sometime Premier of Tasmania, third son of John Wilson, of Banff, N.B., was born on March 9th, 1812, and emigrated to Tasmania in 1829. He was elected to the Legislative Council for Hobart Town in 1859. He was a member of the Whyte Ministry without portfolio from Jan. 1863, when he was sworn of the Executive Council, until Nov. 1866. Three years later he became Premier, and held office as Colonial Secretary from August 1869 to Nov. 1872, when he became President of the Legislative Council, a post which he held till Feb. 1880. Sir James, who married in 1847 Deborah Hope, third daughter of Peter Degraves, of Cascade, Hobart Town, was field officer in command of the Tasmanian Volunteers in 1860, received the Queen's permission to bear the title of Honourable within the colony in 1866, and was knighted in 1873. He died at Hobart on March 9th, 1880, the 68th anniversary of his birthday.

Wilson, Hon. John Bowie, third son of the Rev. John Wilson, D.D., was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, on June 17th, 1820, and educated at Irvine and at the Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities. He arrived in Australia in June 1840, and in 1859 was elected to the New South Wales Parliament for the Southern Goldfields, being afterwards returned for Patrick's Plains and East Sydney. Mr. Wilson was Secretary for Lands in the Ministry from Oct. 1863 to Feb. 1865, and under the same premier from Jan. 1866 to Oct. 1868, and Dec. 1870 to May 1872. Mr. Wilson distinguished himself by his efforts to secure parks and recreation grounds for the people of Sydney. He died April 30th, 1883.

Wilson, Sir John Cracroft, K.C.S.I., C.B., was born at Onamore, in the Madras Presidency, on May 21st, 1808, and sent to England for his education. He returned to India in 1828, having been appointed to a subordinate position in the Indian Civil Service, but he was soon promoted to be assistant commissioner to Sir William Sleeman, with whom he greatly distinguished himself by his success in suppressing Thuggism. He was shortly afterwards made a magistrate of Cawnpore. In 1841 he was transferred to Moradabad, where he acted as magistrate and collector until 1853, He was then ordered a change of climate on medical grounds, and, obtaining leave of 515