Biography
Forster was born in Madras, India, the son of Thomas Forster, army surgeon, and his wife Eliza Blaxland, daughter of Gregory Blaxland. His parents married in Sydney and travelled to India in 1817, Wales in 1822, Ireland in 1825 and settled down in 1829 in Brush Farm, Eastwood, built by Blaxland in about 1820, and the birthplace of the Australian wine industry. He continued his education in Australia at W. T. Cape's school and The King's School.
Forster became a squatter near Port Macquarie and the Clarence River, in New England, on Gin Gin on the Wide Bay and Burnett River (near Hervey Bay). In 1867 he still controlled over 30,000 hectares in Queensland. In 1846 he married Eliza Wall and he settled with her on Brush Farm in 1854. They had two sons and six daughters before Eliza died in 1862. He was appointed a magistrate in 1842, but was sacked in 1849, when an aboriginal was shot by one of his Blaxland relations.
Forster was "probably the most erudite and literate of the squatters" and from 1844 onwards he contributed significantly to Robert Lowe's the Atlas, including The Devil and the Governor, a poem attacking Governor Gipps, described as one of the best Australian satirical poems written in the 19th century. He also contributed to Henry Parkes' The Empire and other papers.
Read more about this topic: William Forster (Australian Politician)
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