Henry Condell

Henry Condell (1797–1871) was the first Mayor of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He served from 1842 to 1844, and was succeeded by Henry Moor.

Condell was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council as the first member for Town of Melbourne on 1 June 1843.

He left Scotland for Van Diemen's Land on 24 June 1822 on board the "Skelton" and arrived in Hobart on 24 December 1822. Marion and their first child Jane did not accompany him remaining in Edinburgh. Marion traveled to Hobart three years later, leaving their daughter Jane behind to be looked after by grandparents in Edinburgh. A son, William Vallange, was born in Hobart in 1827.

With money inherited following his mother's death Condell established a brewery in Hobart in 1830. In 1839 he moved to Port Phillip and set up a brewery in Little Collins Street and he also acquired several properties in Melbourne.

On 9 December 1842 at the Royal Hotel, Collins Street Condell was elected as Melbourne's first Mayor, as well as the Gipps Ward Alderman. In addition, Condell was as a member of the New South Wales Upper House from 1843–1856.

In 1853 he left Australia on the "Bombay" for England, but the ship nearly sank with its passengers and their gold. His wife Marion died in Maida Vale, Kensington in 1866 and Condell died at the age of eighty, when a visitor to Oak House, South Mimms, on 26 September 1871 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

There is a 'Condell Room' named after him in the Melbourne Town Hall and his portrait hangs in one of its rooms. The present Melbourne Town Hall clock was presented to the town by his son, William Vallange, after his father's death.