Frédéric Guillaume de Pury

Baron Frédéric Guillaume de Pury (15 December 1831 – 11 November 1890) was a Swiss Australian winemaker, farmer, statesman, and diplomat who served as the Swiss Honorary Consul to Australia in Melbourne from 1875 to 1890 (his death) as well as justice of peace. De Pury owned several vineyards in Australia (Yering) and exported his vines to England, France, and other European countries. He was the founder of the Australian branch of the De Pury family.

Biography De Pury was born on 15 December 1831 in Neuchâtel to Baron Edouard Charles Alexandre de Pury, a member of the Grand Council of Neuchâtel, and his second wife, Julie de Sandoz-Travers. His family had been ennobled by Frederick II of Prussia. He first worked tending cattle on a property in Yering that was owned by Paul de Castella. In 1869 he bought out Langdon.

De Pury was a leader of the Swiss community in Lilydale. He became a justice of the peace in 1862 and was a member of the Upper Yarra District Roads Board for twenty-one years. In 1881 he served on a government inquiry into the condition of the Aboriginal station at Coranderrk.

Personal life On 2 February 1869 he married Adelaide Augusta Ibbotson at St James Cathedral. They had two sons;

George Alphonse de Pury (1 January 1870 – 14 September 1956) Montague Edouard de Pury (20 March 1873 – July 1960)

He was appointed as a commissioner of the International Exhibition in Melbourne. He died on 11 November 1890 in Lausanne, Switzerland.