Australian public servant (1831–1908)
Lewis Adolphus Bernays (3 May 1831 – 22 August 1908) C.M.G., F.L.S., F.R.G.S, was a public servant, the first Clerk of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, and an agricultural writer in Queensland, Australia.
Early life.
Bernays was born in London, the son of Dr Adolphus Bernays (a brother of Chakam Isaac Bernays), a professor of German language and literature at King's College London, and his wife Martha, née Arrowsmith. He was educated at King's College, and at the age of nineteen, emigrated to New Zealand, where he engaged in sheep farming for two years.
In 1851 he married Mary Anne Eliza, daughter of William Borton.
Australia.
Bernays went to Sydney in 1852 obtained a position on the staff of the parliament of New South Wales. In 1859 Sir George Bowen, the governor of Queensland had requested a clerk for the new Legislative Assembly of Queensland. Bernays was appointed and came to Brisbane in 1860, was present at the opening of the first parliament, holding the position of Clerk of Parliament for over 47 years. He organized the inner working of parliament, became an authority on procedure, and was the guide and friend of successive generations of members of parliament, until his death at Brisbane on 22 August 1908.
Bernays had other activities and was for a time secretary to the Brisbane Board of Water Works and later a member of the board.
He was interested in economic botany, published "The Olive and its Products" (1872), and "Cultural Industries for Queensland; Papers on the Cultivation of Useful Plants Suited to the Climate of Queensland" (1883).
Created a C.M.G. in 1892, Bernays was a very competent public servant, who played a prominent part in the Queensland parliament. He knew thoroughly its law and practice, and in times of difficulties party leaders naturally turned to him. He was a man of culture, remembered for his unfailing courtesy and remained a student all his life. One of his sons, Charles Arrowsmith Bernays, born in 1862, was the author of "Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859-1919) Years", and of "Queensland—Our Seventh Political Decade." In the former, he writes of his father, 'On his death he was fittingly described by J. T. Bell as being of the best and rarest type of public servant'.
Affiliations.
Bernays was on the committee of the Johnsonian Club in 1880, its second year of existence.
He was one of the founders of the Queensland Acclimatisation Society, holding positions of Councillor, Honorary Secretary, Vice-President, President and vice-patron for many years.
Bernays was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London., and a member of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland Branch).
Later life.
Bernays died of heart failure on 22 August 1908 following a short illness and was survived by five sons and four daughters. Bernays is buried in Toowong Cemetery.
Legacy.
In 1909, a bust of Bernays was commissioned from sculptor James Laurence Watts for the Queensland Parliament House.
References.
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