John Hubert Plunkett in New South Wales, 1832-1869

Abstract

Prior to 1965 when I began research on a topic dealing with Australian Catholic history in the 19th century X had heard only vaguely of John Hubert Plunkett. I knew that he had been a lawyer in the service of the Crown, that a street in Sydney had been named after him and, more recently, one in the suburb of Chifley in the A.C.T. The period of his service in the Colony of New South Wales threw him into contact, and perhaps contrast, with others whose names have been left to posterity so that they are remembered whilst he has been well-nigh forgotten. Wentworth, Bourke, Forbes, Gipps, Parkes and even Deniehy need no testimonial today. Their times, their lives, their motives and their utterances have been studied and written about at length. It is not possible to pick up a book on Australian history of their period that does not give them recognition. Yet when A.C.V. Melbourne wrote his lasting work on constitutional development up to 1856 he did not find room in his index for a reference to John Hubert Plunkett. John West, in an editorial in the Herald a century ago, wrote that no name would shine brighter than Plunkett's in the pages of Australian history i he was mistaken.