Henry Stuart Russell

File:Henry Stuart Russell.tif

Henry Stuart Russell (16 March 1818 – 5 March 1889) was an English-born explorer, politician, historian and pastoralist, best known for establishing the Cecil Plains Station around the Condamine River area of Australia.{{cite news

|url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/Queensland/Cecil-Plains/2005/02/17/1108500202233.html

|title = Cecil Plains

|work = Sydney Morning Herald (Travel section)

|accessdate = 16 September 2014

|date = 8 February 2004

|url-status = live

|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140809134207/http://www.smh.com.au/news/Queensland/Cecil-Plains/2005/02/17/1108500202233.html

|archivedate = 9 August 2014

|df = dmy-all

}}

Early life

Russell was born in Halliford, Middlesex, England, the son of an East India Company officer. He was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford.{{Cricketarchive|id=37623|name=Henry Russell}} He migrated to Sydney, Australia in 1840, where he stayed at a New England station belonging to Arthur Hodgson, his second cousin.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography

|first=Austin, C. G. |last=Lack, Clem

|title=Russell, Henry Stuart (1818–1889)

|id2=russell-henry-stuart-2618

|volume=2

|accessdate=16 September 2014

}}

Career

File:StateLibQld 1 100072.jpgIn May 1842, Russell joined an exploration party in search of sheep country in Wide Bay. The party was the first Europeans to discover the river later named the Mary River. They also found and brought back two escaped convicts from the penal settlement. Russell made a subsequent journey in November 1842, where he was the first European to discover the river he named the Boyne River. This expedition resulted in Russell taking up Burrandowan station.

Russell sold Burrandowan in 1847 to Philip Friell. In 1852, the pastoral run Woondul was transferred from Thomas DeLacy Moffat to Russell.{{cite news |date=20 July 1852 |title=TRANSFER OF RUNS. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230051503 |access-date=28 July 2019 |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=1115 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=73}}

In January 1853, he was elected to the Legislative Council of New South Wales for Stanley Boroughs.{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=470 |name=Mr Henry Stuart Russell (1818-1889) |former=Yes |access-date=21 April 2019}} In 1859, his interest in Cecil Plains was sold to James Taylor, his head stockman.{{Cite web |title=Cecil Plains |url=https://www.queenslandplaces.com.au/cecil-plains |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=Queensland Places |publisher=University of Queensland}} He returned to Sydney, living at Mosman Bay for the following seven years. Suffering financial setbacks, he sailed for England in 1888. Also in 1888, he published a book, The Genesis of Queensland, detailing the early settlement and the growth of the pastoral industry in the area. He died at Ottery St. Mary, Devon, on 5 March 1889.

Personal life

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Russell was married twice. His first marriage was in 1851 to Charlotte, sister of Philip Pinnock, a senior police magistrate and sheriff of Queensland. In 1874, he married Selina Oakes, who survived him with five sons from the first marriage, and a daughter from the second.