| BooK ReVIeWS |

William Charles : ’s Greatest Native Son

Andrew Tink | Allen & Unwin | 2009

he had by 1789 been arrested and tried on Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson, felt four counts of highway robbery – on each themselves hemmed in by the mountains occasion managing to secure an acquittal. to the west, which had till then proven The last time, apparently recognising impenetrable; they wanted to see if there that things were becoming too close for was pasturing country on the other side. comfort, he advised the court through his on 11 May 1813 Wentworth, Blaxland barrister that he had taken a passage on and Lawson, together with four servants the fleet to Botany Bay. and a number of dogs and horses, set off from Blaxland’s farm. Blaxland had D’Arcy Wentworth then travelled to identified a ridge through two rivers, in the convict transport the which seemed to offer a chance of passing Neptune, part of the infamous second the mountains. fleet. Also on board was one Catherine Crowley, a convict, 17 years old, who Tink’s description of this expedition is one had been sentenced to transportation of the highlights of the book. He tracks for stealing sheets and clothes from her the journey, marking it by contemporary employer. Their son, William Charles landmarks: their route, he points out, Wentworth, was born after the fleet’s closely follows the modern path of the arrival in Port Jackson, while his parents . They managed were en route to Norfolk Island. to make their way through the mountains and found grazing land on the other side. Two others travelling out to Australia on A year later Governor Macquarie toured Andrew Tink’s fine biography of William board the Neptune were the mercurial and the newly discovered area and identified Charles Wentworth takes its subtitle – dangerous John Macarthur and his wife the site of Bathurst. ‘Australia’s greatest native son’ – from elizabeth; indeed Macarthur fought a duel Manning Clark. Wentworth was certainly – his first, but not his last – with the ship’s Wentworth sailed to england. He studied one of Australia’s first european native sons captain. law and became a barrister. While he was – or ‘currency lads’, to use the argot of in england he became the first native Wentworth’s unusual parentage is a key the time – having been born in 1790. He born Australian to publish a book: A to his character. He was not quite one was also a highly prominent one: when he Statistical, Historical and Political Description thing or the other: he may have become was born the colony at Port Jackson had a of the Colony of and its a wealthy and successful landowner and population of about 1700, when he died, Independent Settlements in Van Diemen’s politician but his father, if not exactly a in 1873, at the age of 83, some 70,000 Land. In 1824 Wentworth returned to the convict, was not quite a free settler either, people lined the streets of Sydney to pay colony. and this, together with Wentworth’s on 10 September of that year Wentworth was admitted as a barrister to the Supreme Wentworth went on to have a significant role in public Court of New South Wales, one of the life. He was an early champion for trial by jury and first to appear on the roll of the bar of New South Wales, following others such self-government. He was one of the founders of Sydney as Bannister and Stephen. His friend and University. colleague, Robert Wardell, with whom he proposed to establish a newspaper, convict mother, meant he would never was admitted the same day. Wardell and their respects. Whether he was also the be an exclusive. Certainly Macarthur Wentworth’s first application appears ‘greatest’ is a matter on which reasonable never forgot Wentworth’s origins; some to have been on their own account: in minds might differ. twenty eight years after the voyage on a pugnacious start to their barristerial Wentworth’s father, D’Arcy Wentworth, the Neptune he humiliated the young activity in the colony they immediately was, as Tink points out, a member of one Wentworth by refusing him permission to petitioned the court for an order denying of england’s most distinguished families, marry his daughter. solicitors the right to appear; Chief Justice however since he was not fortunate Forbes dismissed the application. By 1813 Wentworth was twenty three enough to inherit any of the family wealth and the owner of land near Penrith. he decided to adopt other means of He and some other local landowners, sustaining himself: while living in London

106 | Bar News | Summer 2009–2010 | | BooK ReVIeWS |

Wardell and Wentworth’s newspaper, The Australian, first appeared the following This is a meticulously researched and highly enjoyable book. month, in october 1824. Tink has skilfully introduced enough detail to bring the Wentworth went on to have a significant characters to life, but not so much so as to slow the narrative role in public life. He was an early champion for trial by jury and self- down or make it hard work. government. He was one of the founders of Sydney University. He was not Bar, yet here I stand with six bottles under some assessment of Wentworth’s status appointed silk – for that process did not my belt and none the worse. in the light of history as it has unfolded come into play in New South Wales until to the present. Tink’s balanced account Tink was himself a politician, and also later – but he was presented with a silk of Wentworth’s life does not suggest to a barrister, and one glimpses the life gown as a mark of his pre-eminence. He the contrary. Indeed Tink does not shy of a lawyer in the colony in his pages. was in due course honoured by lending his away from the unattractive aspects of He describes for example Wentworth name to a set of chambers in Phillip Street. Wentworth’s character. Tink observes that spending weeknights at his chambers This is a meticulously researched and Wentworth could be ‘intolerant, loud and but galloping off alone on Friday nights highly enjoyable book. Tink has skilfully self-serving’. Much worse than that, in to join his family at their isolated farm in introduced enough detail to bring the 1845 Wentworth delivered an ugly speech Petersham. characters to life, but not so much as slow in the Legislative Council against the the narrative down or make it hard work. Manning Clark’s description of Wentworth proposition that Indigenous people should He brings out Wentworth’s dishevelled, as Australia’s ‘greatest native son’ be entitled to give evidence in court cases, boozy vigour: his shock of hair, his inward seems to have been a description of a speech which Tink describes as probably turning eye, his oratory. Wentworth’s Wentworth’s standing in the colony at the most shameful to have been delivered opening to a speech at a bar dinner in the time – specifically, at about the time in the 150 year history of the Legislative 1829 gives some flavour of the man: of Wentworth’s marriage in 1829 – it Council in New South Wales. does appear to have been intended as Look at me, the father of the Australian Reviewed by Jeremy Stoljar SC

Annotated Conveyancing and Real Property Legislation New South Wales

PW Young, A Cahill, G Newton | Butterworths | 2009

This is useful, ‘take to court’ addition The previous, third edition (annotated act made some important changes with to the library of anyone dealing with by the Hon Mr Justice Young alone) was respect to matters including the amounts real property matters. It gives you, in published in 2003, so this is a welcome recoverable from the Torrens Assurance a single volume, the full text of each update. In this edition, the location of the Fund by way of compensation and the of the Conveyancing Act 1919 and Real different acts and regulations is marked identification of mortgagees, and expressly Property Act 1900 with cross-referenced for ready reference with grey shaded requires a mortgagee or chargee in commentary and case references extracted ‘tabs’, which make quickly identifying exercising a power of sale to ensure that from the LexisNexis Butterworths looseleaf the relevant section much easier than the land is sold for not less than its market service, Conveyancing Service New South previously. It has an index and tables of value. Wales, as well as the Conveyancing cases and statutes. Reviewed by Carol Webster (General) Regulation 2008, Conveyancing The legislation is current to 1 March 2009, (Sale of Land) Regulation 2005 and Real and so it has unfortunately not included Property Regulation 2008. the Real Property Act and Conveyancing The Acts were originally annotated by the Legislation Amendment Act 2009 assented Hon Mr Justice Young, now updated by to on 13 May 2009, parts of which Messrs Cahill and Newton. commenced on assent. This amending

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