George Barney (19 May 1792 – 16 April 1862), was an engineer and lieutenant governor of the Colony of North Australia. May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (140th in leap years). ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A Lieutenant Governor is a government official who is the subordinate or deputy of a Governor or Governor-General. ... North Australia was a short-lived territory of Australia. ...

George Barney was born in London on 19 May 1792 and entered the army at 16. He served in the Peninsular War and for many years in the West Indies. He was a captain in the royal engineers when Governor Richard Bourke, in July 1834, asked that a civil engineer should be sent to Sydney to take charge of the construction of a large circular wharf and other public works. Captain Barney was selected in response to this request, and came to Sydney about the beginning of 1836 in command of a branch of the ordinance, with instructions that he was also to take charge of and superintend the buildings belonging to the military, and convict departments. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Combatants Spain United Kingdom Portugal French Empire The Peninsular War was a major conflict during the Napoleonic Wars, fought on the Iberian Peninsula by an alliance of Spain, Portugal, and Britain against the Napoleonic French Empire. ... West Indian redirects here. ... Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB General Sir Richard Bourke KCB (Dublin, 4 May 1777 – 13 August 1855, Limerick) was Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Australia between 1831 and 1837. ... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... October 2, Charles Darwin returns from his voyage around the world. ...

Bourke stated in February 1836 that Barney was engaged in removing obstructions to the navigation of the Parramatta River, and asked that leave might be granted him to undertake the duty of colonial engineer at a salary of £500 a year and travelling charges. This was granted in September 1837, and in 1838 Barney brought forward a scheme for the sale of the barracks in Sydney, as the land was now valuable, the proceeds to be used for new buildings at Sydney and Newcastle, New South Wales. In 1839 he prepared a report on the defence of the harbours in the colony and made various recommendations. The English authorities, however, declined to consider the question until they had received plans and estimates of the proposed work. Governor George Gipps supported Barney and with the aid of convict labour the preparing of the ground for the guns was begun in 1840. In January 1843 Gipps spoke very highly of Barney, but stated he had so many other duties it was scarcely possible for him to give the required attention to his colonial appointment. The Parramatta River, New South Wales, Australia, is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, along with the smaller Lane Cove and Duck Rivers. ... Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1837 - 1901) 1837 (MDCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Newcastle CBD Newcastle is the sixth largest and the second oldest city in Australia and the second largest in the state of New South Wales. ... 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Sir George Gipps (1791 - 28 February 1847) was Governor of the colony of New South Wales, Australia, for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Barney returned to England in 1844 and in May 1846, now a lieutenant-colonel, was appointed "lieutenant-governor of North Australia". In 1822 John Bigge had recommended the establishment of a convict settlement at Port Curtis on the east coast of Queensland. The project had been more than once revived, and as some difficulty was being experienced in finding work for time-expired convicts in Tasmania, it was now decided to try the experiment of sending them to a new area and giving them land and a certain amount of government help. Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby and William Ewart Gladstone, successive secretaries of state for the colonies, had fathered the project, and Gladstone had selected Barney as a man used to authority and with previous Australian experience. He arrived in Sydney on 15 September 1846, quickly surveyed the coast in a small steamer, and decided that Port Curtis was the most suitable place for a settlement. Returning to Sydney a barque, the Lord Auckland, was chartered, and on 8 January 1847 sailed with Barney and his family, various officials, and a small military force. The party arrived at an unfavourable period and there was much discomfort from the extreme heat. In the meantime there had been a change of ministries in England, Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey had succeeded Gladstone, and had promptly vetoed the whole project. News of this reached Barney on 15 April 1847 and the party returned to Sydney. Barney was criticized in some quarters, but the Gladstone colony was never given a chance to succeed. In later years the thriving town of Gladstone was established on the site, and the harbour is one of the finest in Australia. Barney was afterwards appointed successively chief commissioner of crown lands, and surveyor-general of New South Wales. He died at Sydney on 16 April 1862. 1844 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1822 (MDCCCXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... John Thomas Bigge (1780 - 1843) was an English judge. ... Arms of Edward Smith-Stanley Statue in Parliament Square, London Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC (29 March 1799–23 October 1869) was a British statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and is to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative... William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British Liberal Party statesman and Prime Minister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 and 1892–1894). ... September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years). ... 1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (December 28, 1802 October 9, 1894), was an English statesman. ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1847 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Capital Sydney Government Const. ...

References

• Serle, Percival (1949). “Barney, George”, Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 
• Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition