Sydney Bevan Davis (1829–1884) was a pastoralist and politician in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. He was a

Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly This is a list of members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the state parliament of Queensland, sorted by parliament. See also * Queensland Legislative Assembly electoral districts This is a list of current and former Electoral dis ...

Early life

Sydney Bevan Davis was born in

Dorsetshire Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to th ...

, England, in 1829, the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Davis, of the Dorsetshire Militia, who for many years was

Master of Foxhounds Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Sydney Davis was a lieutenant in his father's regiment. He was educated at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He immigrated to Queensland in 1861 with considerable capital that he invested in a pastoral property at

Peak Downs Peak Downs is a geographic area, and formerly a station, in the vicinity of Clermont, Central Queensland. In the 1860s and 1870s the area was known as "the Peak Downs". The morphology of this region consisted of numerous distinct peaks of bas ...

called ''Peak Vale Station'' and also had an interest in the ''Craven Downs Station''.

Politics

Under the Additional Members Act 1864, the seats of Clermont,

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...

, Maryborough, Mitchell,

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

and Warrego were created. By-elections to fill the new seats were held on 1 February 1865 (Maryborough and Rockhampton), on 18 March 1865 (Clermont and Kennedy) and on 25 March 1865 (Mitchell and Warrego). Sydney Davis was elected to the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

in Clermont on 18 March 1865. On 18 August 1866, Sydney Davis resigned, believed to be linked to the difficult conditions caused by the drought on his pastoral holdings.

Roderick Travers Roderick Travers (9 May 1831 – 19 July 1894) was a sheep farmer and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Early days Travers was born in Islington, London, and sailed on the ''Blackwall'' from Portsmouth to Australia in 1850. He ret ...

won the resulting by-election on 11 September 1866; however, he declined to take the seat and resigned on 12 October. A further by-election on 13 November 1866 was won by George Forbes.

Later life

After the difficulties he faced with the drought on his Peak Downs properties, he retired to

. He died on Friday 27 June 1884 following an illness of several weeks. He was buried in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

section of the

South Rockhampton Cemetery South Rockhampton Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at Upper Dawson Road, Allenstown, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1860 to 1970. It is also known as Dawson Road Cemetery and Rockhampton Cemetery. It was add ...

on Saturday 28 June 1884.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Sydney Bevan Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1829 births 1884 deaths Colony of Queensland people 19th-century Australian politicians