Edward Hamersley was a Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

n pastoralist

Pastoralism

Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...

, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 for nearly ten years.

Edward Hamersley was born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 on 1 September 1835. In 1837 his family emigrated to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, where his father Edward

Edward Hamersley (Snr)

Edward Hamersley was an early settler in colonial Western Australia. He became a successful and wealthy pastoralist, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. The Hamersley family became one of the most prominent families in the colony.Edward Hamersley was born at Sandgate,...

 became a wealthy and prominent pastoralist. In 1843 the family returned to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, but again went to Western Australia in 1850, building a home at Guildford

Guildford, Western Australia

Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 13 km northeast of the city. Its Local Government Area is the City of Swan.-History:Guildford was established in 1829 on the Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply...

 near Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

.

In 1853, Edward Hamersley took charge of his father's horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 station Richmond, in the Williams

Williams, Western Australia

Williams is a town located in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, south-southeast of the state capital, Perth along Albany Highway and 32 kilometres west of Narrogin. The Williams River passes through the town. At the 2006 census, Williams had a population of 338.-History:Williams is...

 district. He was extremely unhappy at being sent away from the social scene at Guildford

Guildford, Western Australia

Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located 13 km northeast of the city. Its Local Government Area is the City of Swan.-History:Guildford was established in 1829 on the Swan River, being sited near a permanent fresh water supply...

, and he managed the station poorly, prompting a contemporary John Wollaston

John Wollaston

Reverend John Ramsden Wollaston , was an Anglican clergyman who was instrumental in the establishment of the Church of England in Western Australia....

 to write

Hamersley's horse station... seems to me quite an apology for a breeding establishment... not a bit of hay nor handful of corn to be had.... The native dogs destroy the foals as soon as dropped.

In 1858, his younger brother took over the station, and Hamersley was transferred to Wilberforce, another of his father's stations, located at York

York, Western Australia

York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated 97 km east of Perth in the Avon Valley near Northam, and is the seat of the Shire of York...

. In February 1867, Hamersley married Jane Dempster.

Later that year, the governor

Governor of Western Australia

The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...

 agreed to allow settlers to elect men whom he would then nominate to the Western Australian Legislative Council

Western Australian Legislative Council

The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

. Edwards stood for election, but was defeated by his father's former partner and later enemy Samuel Pole Phillips².

Western Australia having obtained representative government in 1870, Hamersley stood for election in 1874, and on 29 September was elected to the Legislative Council seat of Toodyay. Two months later, his father died, and Hamersley was bequeathed two of his father's stations, Wilberforce and Woodside. He resigned his seat in the Legislative Council on 6 October 1875.

On 11 February 1880, Hamersley was elected to the Legislative Council seat of York. He did not stand for election in 1884 and so ceased to be a member on 27 October. After Western Australia gained responsible government

Responsible government

Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...

 in 1890, Hamersley was nominated to the Legislative Council on 24 December, serving until the Council became fully elective in June 1894. He then contested the Legislative Council seat of East Province, but was unsuccessful.

Edward Hamersley had seven sons and three daughters. He was widowed in April 1913, and died at York on 14 January 1921.

The Hamersleys

Hamersley family

The Hamersley family were a wealthy and well-connected family of early settlers in the colony of Western Australia. Members of the Hamersley family emigrated to Western Australia from England in 1837.Prominent members and connections of the family include:...

 were a well connected family, and Edward Hamersley was related by blood or marriage to a number of prominent Western Australian farmers and politicians. His father Edward

Edward Hamersley (Snr)

Edward Hamersley was an early settler in colonial Western Australia. He became a successful and wealthy pastoralist, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. The Hamersley family became one of the most prominent families in the colony.Edward Hamersley was born at Sandgate,...

 was one of the leading Western Australian landholders of his day; his brother Samuel

Samuel Hamersley

Samuel Richard Hamersley was a Western Australian pastoralist, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for six years....

 and nephew Vernon

Vernon Hamersley

Vernon Hamersley served the longest term ever as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council.-Life and career:...

 both became Members of the Legislative Council; William Locke Brockman

William Locke Brockman

William Locke Brockman was an early settler in Western Australia, who became a leading pastoralist and stock breeder, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council....

 was his uncle; his sister Margaret

Margaret Forrest

Lady Forrest , born Margaret Elvire Hamersley, was the wife of Sir John Forrest. Born in Le Havre, France, she was a member of the prominent and wealthy Hamersley family; her father was Edward Hamersley , and amongst her brothers were Edward Hamersley and Samuel Hamersley...

 married Sir John Forrest

John Forrest

Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....

; and his wife Jane was sister to Andrew and Charles Dempster

Charles Dempster

Charles Stewart 'Stewie' Dempster was a former New Zealand cricketer and coach...

.