author
William Westgarth
1815–1889
A Scottish-born merchant who became one of colonial Australia’s sharpest observers, he helped shape public life in Melbourne while writing some of the early books that explained the region to the wider world.
1 Audiobook
Personal Recollections of Early Melbourne and Victoria
by William Westgarth
About the author
Born in Edinburgh in 1815, he moved to the Port Phillip district in the late 1830s and built a career in trade and finance. Over time he became known not only as a successful merchant, but also as a careful writer on economics, statistics, and the growth of the Australian colonies.
He was active in public life as well, serving in colonial legislatures in New South Wales and Victoria. His writing ranged from commercial surveys to historical recollections, and it helped document the rapid changes of nineteenth-century Melbourne and Victoria.
Later based in London, he continued to work as an adviser and agent in matters linked to the Australian colonies while publishing books about their development. He died in London in 1889, remembered as a businessman, politician, and one of the early historians of colonial Australia.