BUNDEY, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (18381909)

son of James Bundey and his wife Harriett Lockyer, was born in Hampshire, England, on 30 January 1838, and came with his parents to South Australia in 1848. His father died about a fortnight after his arrival, and the boy, though under 11 years of age, had to go to work in a solicitor's office. In 1856 he was appointed clerk of the Onkaparinga local court, but gave this position up about six years later to became articled to a solicitor. Bundey was practically self-educated but he was a good law student, and he was admitted to the bar in 1865. He became a most effective advocate, especially in criminal cases, one reason being that he declined to defend prisoners unless he believed in their innocence.In 1872 he was returned to the South Australian house of assembly for Onkaparinga, and from July 1874 to March 1875 was minister for justice and education in the third Blyth (q.v.) ministry. One of the measures he put through was the bill to establish the university of Adelaide. He did not seek re-election in 1875, but entered parliament again in 1878 and was attorney-general in the Morgan (q.v.) ministry from September 1878 to March 1881. His health had failed more than once, but a trip through Europe and the east improved it very much. Bundey returned to Adelaide at the end of April 1882. In 1884 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court and held the position for 19 years. He was appointed president of the board of conciliation in 1894 but resigned some 15 months later. He retired on a pension in 1903, was knighted in 1904, and died on 6 December 1909. He married in 1865 Ellen Wardlaw, daughter of Sir William Milne (q.v.), who survived him with a daughter, Ellen Milne Bundey. Miss Bundey, who wrote under the name of "Lyell Dunne", published several volumes of verse.

Bundey was a handsome man of fine presence who had many interests. As a young man he was a captain of volunteers and later became an expert yachtsman. He published his Reminiscences of 25 Years' Yachting in Australia in 1888. As a politician he was much interested in education and the simplification of the law, and was responsible for the supreme court act, the district courts act, and insolvency and public trustee acts. As a judge he was courteous and painstaking, particularly anxious to preserve the rights of the subject, and watchful that prisoners who were not defended should receive justice. He published several pamphlets including Land Reform, Education, Trades Unions (1889), Some Thoughts on the Administration of the Criminal Law (1891), Conviction of Innocent Men (1900).