William Forster

William Forster (16 October 1818 – 30 October 1882) was a pastoral squatter, colonial British politician, Premier of New South Wales from 27 October 1859 to 9 March 1860, and poet.

Early life Forster was born in Madras, India, the son of Thomas Forster, army surgeon, and his wife Eliza Blaxland, daughter of Gregory Blaxland. His parents married in Sydney and travelled to India in 1817, Wales in 1822, Ireland in 1825 and settled down in 1829 in Brush Farm, Eastwood, built by Blaxland in about 1820, and the birthplace of the Australian wine industry. He continued his education in Australia at W. T. Cape's school and The King's School.

Pastoral squatter Forster became a squatter and took up pastoral holdings near the Clarence River and later on the Burnett River (near Bundaberg). In 1840, with his uncle Gregory Blaxland Jnr, he led his herds of sheep from the New England tablelands into the Clarence Valley to set up a sheep station. Due to the high level of Aboriginal resistance he named his pastoral holding Purgatory. Blaxland, who took up land adjoining Forster's run, encountered a similar situation and named his holding Pandemonium. The names of these pastoral leases were later changed to Geergarow and Nymboida respectively. Forster was appointed a magistrate in 1842.

In 1848, Forster and Blaxland advanced their party further north looking to exploit more land for livestock raising. They drove over 30,000 sheep and 800 cattle more than 600 kms north over months, before choosing an area in Taribelung bunda country, along the lower reaches of the recently surveyed Burnett River. They named this pastoral lease Tirroan and it was extensive in size, covering most of the modern day Bundaberg region. Seeing the destruction of native habitats and foods by the large non-native herds, Taribelung people repeatedly tried to remove the sheep, and were fired on in retaliation. On 4 June 1849, two of the station's young shepherds were killed, and in retaliation Blaxland led a punitive expedition which killed a large number of Aboriginals. When this occurred, Forster had been recently sacked from his magistrate position, with no reason given.

In 1850, further frontier violence occurred in which Blaxland was clubbed to death. Forster organised another punitive mission which resulted in a large massacre of Aboriginals towards and on Paddy island. Forster sold out of the Tirroan property not long after, but remained in the Wide Bay-Burnett region until 1856, retaining ownership over a number of other pastoral leases. In 1867 he still controlled over 30,000 hectares in the new state of Queensland.

Forster took the view that there were three stages in colonisation. The first was an intermittent type of warfare between "the blacks" and the occupiers, the second was "a kind of open war", and the final stage being an acceptance of defeat by the original owners of the land. During an NSW Legislative Assembly Select Report on the "Murders by the Aborigines on the Dawson River", when asked for the cause, Forster stated "I should say murders of that kind must always be expected on the frontier of a Colony like this, more or less. The great number of murders committed recently may be owing to peculiar causes; but that murders must occur in taking up new country, by collisions between the whites and the aborigines, is a necessity almost of that sort of colonization."

In 1848, the colonial Government of New South Wales attempted to reduce the violence of the Aboriginal population by organising a paramilitary Native Police force to subdue them, Forster was strongly and publicly critical of its methods and its commandant, Walker. In particular, Forster was against allowing Aboriginals that have committed murders to stay on the property as workers, stating that "Is it to be supposed that the admission of known murderers to a station can be agreeable to those resident upon it". Forster ran a very public campaign against Walker which resulted in the Commandant being sacked.

Parliamentary career When responsible government was granted, Forster was elected unopposed to the first Legislative Assembly in 1856 as member for United Counties of Murray and St Vincent. From 1859 to 1860 he represented Queanbeyan and, though conservative in tendencies, he opposed the nominee upper house and advocated railway construction on a large scale. He did not believe in party government and endeavoured to maintain an independent position but, when the Cowper government was defeated in 1859, he became leader of a ministry which lasted for only a little more than four months.

Poet From 1844 onwards Forster contributed significantly to Robert Lowe's the Atlas, including The Devil and the Governor, a poem attacking Governor Gipps, described as one of the best Australian satirical poems written in the 19th century. works of a vigorous and poetic mind, which in spite of their length can still be read with interest.

The town of Forster, New South Wales was named after him.