sentences:  He had experience as a teacher at Stanthorpe and was afterwards in charge of the school at Ashgrove, near Brisbane.Representations were then made to the premier, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, that a man of Stephens's ability was being wasted in a small school, and in 1883 a position was found for him as a correspondence clerk in the colonial secretary's department.He afterwards rose to be undersecretary to the chief secretary's department.