Edward Curr (1 July 1798 – 16 November 1850) was an Australian settler and politician. Curr was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He travelled to Hobart Town, arriving in February 1820. In 1823 he returned to England. In 1824 he was appointed manager of the newly formed

Van Diemen's Land Company The Van Diemen's Land Company (also known as Van Dieman Land Company) is a farming corporation in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was founded in 1825 and received a royal charter the same year, and was granted 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) ...

which had arranged to buy 250,000 acres (101,173 ha) of land in the north-west of the colony. Curr arrived back in Hobart in May 1826 and headed north to survey his company's land. He established the company's base at

Circular Head Circular Head Council is a local government body in Tasmania covering the far north-west mainland. It is classified as a rural local government area with a population of 8,066, and its major towns and localities include Arthur River, Marrawa ...

by September 1826. The land taken up by the company was occupied by the

Peerapper Northwestern Tasmanian, or Peerapper ("Pirapa"), is an Aboriginal language of Tasmania in the reconstruction of Claire Bowern.Claire Bowern, September 2012, "The riddle of Tasmanian languages", ''Proc. R. Soc. B'', 279, 4590–4595, doi: 1 ...

people of

Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. At the time of European contact, Aboriginal Tasmanians were divided into a numb ...

. Their country was forcefully appropriated by the company for

sheep farming Sheep farming or sheep husbandry is the raising and breeding of domestic sheep. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Sheep are raised principally for their meat (lamb and mutton), milk (sheep's milk), and fiber (wool). They also yield sheepskin ...

and other agricultural pursuits. Edward Curr implemented an intensely violent policy against the Peerapper, openly stating that successful occupation of the land would only be achieved by the

extermination Extermination or exterminate may refer to: * Pest control, elimination of insects or vermin * Extermination (crime), the killing of human on a large scale * Genocide, at least one of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in par ...

or expulsion of the Indigenous population. Several large massacres of the Peerapper were conducted by the employees of the Van Diemen's Land Company under Curr's reign, including the

Cape Grim massacre The Cape Grim massacre was an attack on 10 February 1828 in which a group of Aboriginal Tasmanians gathering food at a beach in the north-west of Tasmania is said to have been ambushed and shot by four Van Diemen's Land Company (VDLC) workers, w ...

. By 1835, the Peerapper had been completely erased from the entire region, either by being killed or being removed to the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Today Flinders Island is part of the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is from Cape Portland, Tasmania, Cape Portl ...

. Curr was a member of the Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land 1825 to 1826 (later Tasmania). As a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, Curr refused to take the required oath – that he did not believe in fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith and that he deny any allegiance to the descendants of Catholic monarch James II. Governor Arthur waived the requirement and wrote to Secretary for Colonies, Earl Bathurst, for advice on 21 April 1826. In the reply of 11 December, the advice confirmed that Curr was not prevented from taking his position. Curr visited

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in 1839 and returned to settle in 1842. He was elected as a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

for the District of Port Phillip (later to become the colony of Victoria) for two periods (from 1 September 1845 to 31 May 1846 and from 1 September 1848 to 31 May 1849). From 1844 until his death in 1850, he was extremely active in the movement for separation of Victoria from New South Wales. He became known as the "Father of Separation". Curr had a wife (Elizabeth) and eleven surviving children, the eldest being

Edward Micklethwaite Curr Edward Micklethwaite Curr (25 December 1820 – 3 August 1889) was an Australian pastoralist, author, advocate of Australian Aboriginal peoples, and squatter. Biography Curr was born in Hobart, Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land), the ...

. The town of

Sheffield, Tasmania Sheffield is a town inland from Devonport, Tasmania, Devonport, a city on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Sheffield has long been the rural hub for the Mount Roland Conservation Area, Mount Roland area. The Sheffield area is well known for i ...

was named by Curr after his home town in England.Sheffield, Tasmania
, ''Tourism Tasmania''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curr, Edward 1798 births 1850 deaths Politicians from Sheffield Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians Australian pastoralists 19th-century Australian businesspeople