WENTWORTH, William Charles, Aus tralian statesman : b. Norfolk Island, New South Wales, 26 Oct. 1793; d. near Wimbourne, Dorset, England, 20 March 1872. He was the son of a government surgeon at Norfolk Island, then a penal colony, and was educated in Eng land, making one return visit to Australia in the meantime. He studied at Cambridge Uni versity and at Middle Temple, and was called to the English bar in 1822. He then returned to Sydney and speedily gained a large law practice. He affiliated himself with the cause of the aernancipists,° the ex-convict class, as against the aexclusivists," made up of civil and military officers and gentlemen settlers, main taining that South Wales was intended pri marily for the "emancipists° who had earned their freedom and were entitled to preference as colonists. He was also an advocate of self government for Australia, and with Dr. Ward well, a fellow-lawyer, he in 1824 founded the Australian, which was devoted to both projects. He was one of the founders of the °Patriotic Association," and was a leader in the long struggle for self-government which was finally won in 1842, and which victory was generally recognized as being largely due to his labors.
He was a member of the first legislative council, and was the leader of the °Squatter° party. He was also foremost in the struggle for a new constitution for the Colony in 1854. He after ward lived for several years in England and founded in London the General Association for the Australian Colonies. He earnestly advo cated a federal assembly for Australia and is regarded as the originator of the Australian Commonwealth movement. He returned to Sydney in 1861 and became president of the new legislative council, but after 1862 he lived in England. His body was taken to New South Wales, the legislature unanimously voting him a public funeral. Author of 'A Statistical Ac count of the British Settlements in Austra lasia' (1819) ; 'Australasia' poem (1823).