Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt
| Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | October 25, 1815 Dorset, England |
| Died |
10 February 1885 at sea |
| Occupation | Police magistrate, commissioner of crown lands, police office, overlander, grazier |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Frances Grylls |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt & Jeannette, née Wilson |
Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt (25 October 1815 – 10 February 1885) was born in Dorset, England. He was the youngest son of Thomas Lenox Napier Sturt, a puisne judge in Bengal for the British East India Company, and Jeanette or Jeannette, née Wilson. One of his older brothers was the Australian explorer Charles Sturt.
Evelyn arrived in Australia at the age of 20, and by 21 he was appointed the Commissioner of Crown Lands for all of the new colony. Two years later, he resigned and then overlanded sheep and cattle from Bathurst to Adelaide to take up a large parcel of land as a grazier.
Between 1849 and 1878, Sturt served as Police Magistrate and Superintendent of Police in Melbourne.
Evelyn was educated at the Sandhurst Military College, and in 1836, at the young age of twenty, he migrated to New South Wales, travelling on the Hooghly, a ship of 466 tons which had previously been used as a convict transport vessel and was under the command of George Bayly at that time. Sturt arrived in Sydney on 12 October that year.
Making an impression on the authorities, Evelyn was appointed, only 4 months after his arrival, as the Commissioner of Crown lands and was based in Yass from 20 February 1837. Being only 21 years of age he was sometimes referred to as 'the boy commissioner'.
Sturt resigned his post as Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1839 and decided to take sheep and cattle overland from Bathurst to Adelaide, at the time a massive distance of 1200 km. His partners in that successful venture were Charles Campbell, James Stein, and a Mr Hardy. After occupying country at Willunga, South Australia in the Mount Lofty Ranges, he took up Compton station in the Mount Gambier district in 1844.
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