Charles James Herbert de Courcy St Julian (10 May 1819 – 26 November 1874) was a journalist, newspaper owner-editor and the first

Chief Justice of Fiji The chief justice is Fiji's highest judicial officer. The office and its responsibilities are set out in Chapter 5 of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister Prime Mi ...

. St Julian's obituary records that he was born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

but other sources suggest London in 1818. He claimed to be the son of Thomas St Julian, French army officer, and his wife Marian, ''née'' Blackwell. However, the Australian academic, Marion Diamond, in her biography of St Julian, claims that he deliberately obscured his origins and that it is likely that his real name was Charles Trout and that his initial training was as a wood and ivory carver. St Julian emigrated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1837, proceeding in 1839 to Sydney, where he wrote for '' The Australasian Chronicle'', and subsequently for the '' Commercial Journal and Advertiser''. In 1843 he joined the staff of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', which he left four years later for '' The Sydney Chronicle'', afterwards known as the ''Free Press''. In 1849 he rejoined ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. St Julian participated in municipal politics, serving on the

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

council in 1860 and as its chairman in 1861. He went on to serve as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

on the

Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...

Borough Council from 1868 to 1871, and as Mayor from 1868-1869 and again in 1871. In February 1870, he became a magistrate. In 1849, St Julian was appointed the Hawaiian Kingdom's Consul in Sydney by King Kamehameha III and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Robert Crichton Wyllie Robert Crichton Wyllie (October 13, 1798 – October 19, 1865) was a Scottish physician and businessman. He served for twenty years as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Early life Wyllie was born October 13, 1798, in an area c ...

. On August 4, 1853, he was appointed as "His Majesty's Commissioner, and Political and Commercial Agent to the Kings, Chiefs and Rulers of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean, not under the protection or sovereignty of any European Government". In 1859, he was appointed as "His Hawaiian Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires and Consul General to the Kings and Ruling Chiefs of the Independent States and Tribes in Polynesia South of the Equator". Corresponding with Wylie on many grandiose ideas to extend Hawaii's power in Oceania, he accomplished nothing significant but later inspired King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ...

's vision of a Polynesian confederacy in the 1880s. St. Julian remained as Law Reporter for the ''Herald'' until 1872, when

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Seru Epenisa Cakobau appointed him Chief Justice of Fiji. When Fiji became a British colony in 1874,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sir Hercules Robinson proposed an annual pension of £200 for him, but he died near

Levuka Levuka () is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007, the last to date, Levuka town had a population ...

, Fiji on 26 November 1874.

Personal life

St Julian was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. He married Eleanor Heffernan at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, on 26 November 1839. She died on 28 August 1861. On 10 January 1863, he remarried, to Eliza Winifred Hawkesley, the daughter of the radical editor of the People's Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, Edward John Hawksley. Altogether, he had fifteen children — nine with Eleanor and six with Eliza.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St Julian, Charles James Herbert de Courcy 1819 births 1874 deaths Australian newspaper editors 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers Chief justices of Fiji Australian emigrants to Fiji Journalists from London Lawyers from Sydney Colony of Fiji judges Mayors of Waverley, New South Wales Mayors of Marrickville 19th-century male writers 19th-century Australian politicians British emigrants to Australia Ambassadors of the Hawaiian Kingdom The Sydney Morning Herald people Australian male journalists