John Plunkett

John Hubert Plunkett (June 1802 – 9 May 1869 He is best known for the prosecution of the colonists who brutally murdered 28 Aboriginals in the Myall Creek Massacre of 1838, seven of whom were convicted and hanged.

Early life John Hubert Plunkett was born at Mount Plunkett, County Roscommon, Ireland, the younger of twins and son of George Plunkett and his wife Eileen, née O'Kelly. Plunkett entered Trinity College Dublin, in November 1819 (graduating B.A. in 1824) and was called to the Irish bar in 1826 and later to the English bar. He practised as a barrister on the Connaught circuit in 1826–32 with distinction, and was given credit by Daniel O'Connell for the success of the Whig candidates in Connaught at the general election in 1830. disestablished the Church of England and established legal equality between Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians and later Methodists. Following the death of Chief Justice Sir James Dowling in September 1844, Plunkett asserted that he should be offered the vacant position as a right of his position as Attorney-General. The Executive Council rejected his claimed right to the position, and Supreme Court judge Alfred Stephen was appointed.

Parliamentary career In the same year he was elected as the member for both Bathurst (County) and Argyle in the Legislative Assembly at the first election under the new constitution. Plunkett was sworn in as member for Argyle and Bathurst on 22 May 1856, before submitting his resignation from Bathurst on 29 May, stating that the rules of the House would not allow him to send in his resignation earlier. Plunkett resigned from the Assembly in January 1857, was nominated to the Legislative Council, and elected its President. In February 1858, on account of the Board of Education having issued regulations which Charles Cowper, then Premier, disapproved of, Plunkett was dismissed from his position as chairman and he thereupon resigned from the council. There was much public sympathy with Plunkett, and the government offered to reinstate him if he would withdraw statements he had made in letters which were considered offensive. Plunkett declined to do so. Plunkett was again a member of the Legislative Assembly for Cumberland (North Riding) from September 1858 to April 1859 and for West Sydney from June 1859 to November 1860. dedicated to her uncle, John Plunkett. The Cover artwork shows a view from the Eden residence of her brother George Plunkett Keon JP, a police magistrate who was buried in 1899 with his brother Hubert Keon.