South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Monday 26 August 1889, page 5


DEATH OF MR. W. EVERARD.

We regret having to announce today the death, in the seventieth year of his age, of Mr. William Everard, of Ashford, one of our best known colonists. For

several months Mr. Everard has been seriously unwell, and latterly he has been confined to his house. During his retirement he has not ceased to take an interest in public matters, and only last week we printed in the Register a letter from his pen. The deceased gentleman was born in London on December, 1819, and came to South Australia with his parents in the Africaine, Captain Duff, in 1836, and was present at the proclamation of the colony six weeks after his arrival. His father, the late Dr. Everard, was one of the first eighteen members elected to the Legislative Council on the establishment of re-sponsible government. For many years Mr. W. Everard was engaged in agricul-tural and horticultural pursuits with his father and brother, Mr. C. J. Everard, and in connection with the latter he owned property at Myponga. During the greater part of his life his attention has been largely devoted to financial matters. For twenty years he was a Director of the National Bank, and latterly a Director of the Trust and Agency Company, and of the Payneham and Paradise and Goodwood Tramway Com-panies. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the City Land and Investment Company, and was also connected with the Largs Bay Land and Investment Com-pany. He was, moreover, a member of the Council of the Adelaide University, and of the Board of Governors of the Public Library and Art Gallery and Museum, as well as of the Board of Management of the Botanic Gardens from 1865. He was a member of the Road Board in 1866. Twenty or more years ago he was associated with the Hon. Lavington Glyde, Mr. A. Abrahams, and other gentlemen in working the well-known Talisker Mine. Mr. Everard was one of the original purchasers of town acres, and the family held a large area of city property. The land on which the Bank of New South Wales and the Adelaide Club now stand belonged to Mr. W. Everard at one time, and also the acre now occupied by the new Government Offices in Victoria-

square. This year Mr. Everard presented to the Unitarian Church, of which he was a prominent member ever since its foundation in Adelaide, a piece of land adjoining valued by the Commissioner of Taxes at £3,000. Mr. Everard during several years occupied a prominent position in politics. He entered Parliament just four years before his father's retirement in February, 1869, after twelve years of political service. He was first elected to the House of Assembly for the District of Encounter Bay, in March, 1865, in succession to Mr. John Lindsay, having for his colleague Mr. David Sutherland. Prior to this Mr. Everard had offered himself as a candidate, but was re-jected chiefly for the reason given by one elector who resented his outspoken uncom-promising mode of address that he was 'too jolly independent.' At the general elections of 1868 Mr. Everard was returned for the same constituency, this time with Mr. Neville Blyth, brother of Sir Arthur, our Agent General. Remaining out of the sixth Par-liament immediately following he was not again returned till December, 1871, when he was chosen for his old district, with the Hon. Thomas Reynolds as his colleague. Mr. Everard was, however, unseated on petition in February, 1872 by the Court of Disputed Returns, and thus ended his connection with the Assembly. Fourteen months later was elected a member of the Legislative Council in company with Sir Henry Ayers, and Messrs. Alexander Hay, T. Hogarth, J. Fisher, R. A. Tarlton, and W. Duffield, and continued one of the eighteen members comprising the Upper House, who were then returned by the whole province acting as one electoral district, until he vacated his seat on August 1, 1878. While a member of the Legislature Mr. Everard served in three Ministries. He first took office as Commissioner of Public Works in the Hart Administration, which was formed on September 24, 1868, and was succeeded by the Ayers Ministry on the 13th of October following. Besides the Hon. John Hart, C.M.G. (then Mr. J. Hart), Mr. Everard's colleagues in this short-lived Ministry were Mr. Neville Blyth and the late Messrs. J. T. Bagot and W. Townsend. From July 22, 1873, to June 3, 1875, Mr. Everard was Commissioner of Crown Lands and Immigration in the Ministry of which Sir Arthur (then the Hon. Arthur) Blyth was chief. His other colleagues in that Ministry at various times were the late Crown Solicitor (Hon. C Mann, Q.C.), the present Mr. Justice Bundey, and the Hons. J. C. Bray, G. C. Hawker, H. E. Bright, and Lavington Glyde. When Mr. (now Mr. Justice) Boucaut reconstructed his Cabinet on March 25, 1876, Mr. Everard was taken in as Minister of Education, succeeding in that position Mr. Ebenezer Ward, M.P. Although his career aa a politician was not distinguished in any special manner, Mr. Everard was undoubtedly an Independent and honest member and a hard working and trustworthy Minister of the Crown. In every sense of the word he proved himself a worthy citizen and colonist. He visited Europe on three or four occasions, and many years ago he married Miss Hughes, sister of Mr. Hughes, the wellknown geographer, who survives him. There are no children. Mrs. Ralph Everard, living at Modbury, is a sister of the deceased gentleman. His brother, Mr. C. J. Everard, of Marshfield, is also a survivor.