Bolton Stafford Bird CMG (30 January 1840 – 15 December 1924) was an English-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n Congregationalist clergyman, farmer and politician.

Life

Bird was born in Hazlerigg,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, the son of the local

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

. In 1852 the family emigrated to Australia and began farming at

Clunes, Victoria Clunes is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. At the 2016 Australian census, 2016 census it had a population of 1,728. Clunes is best known as the site of Victoria's ...

. In 1865 Bird was ordained in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, but in 1867 transferred to the

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

as minister of the church at

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

. In 1870 he took charge of several churches in the Avoca district. In 1874 he took over the church in Davey Street,

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, but resigned in 1877 due to ill-health and bought a farm near Geeveston in the Huon district. He grew

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s, which he began to ship to England, thus becoming a pioneer of the Tasmanian apple export industry. In August 1891, however, the Bank of Van Diemen's Land, with whom Bird held a

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

, collapsed and he lost the farm, moving to a much smaller property at Lunawanna on

Bruny Island Bruny Island is a coastal island of Tasmania, Australia, located at the mouths of the Derwent River and Huon River estuaries on Storm Bay on the Tasman Sea, south of Hobart. The island is separated from the mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux C ...

. In 1882, Bird was elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

for Franklin. In 1887 he became Treasurer in

Philip Fysh Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) ...

's ministry, serving until Fysh's defeat in 1892. He then served as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

until 1894 and then Speaker of the House of Assembly until December 1896. He was Treasurer again under Sir Elliott Lewis from 1899 to 1903. From 1904 to 1909 he represented South Hobart. In 1909 he was elected to the upper house, the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, and retired in 1923. Bird was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) in the 1920 New Year Honours.

Private Life

He married Sarah Chisholm from Scotland. They had three children beginning with the future headmistress May Isabella in 1868.

Footnotes

References

Australian Dictionary of BiographyObituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Bolton Stafford 1840 births 1924 deaths People from Newcastle upon Tyne (district) English emigrants to Australia Australian Methodist ministers Australian Congregationalist ministers 19th-century Australian Methodist ministers 20th-century Australian Methodist ministers 19th-century Congregationalist ministers Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Members of the Tasmanian Legislative Council Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Speakers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Leaders of the opposition in Tasmania Treasurers of Tasmania