{{Short description|British colonial governor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox military person | name = George Barney | image = Lieutenant Colonel George Barney.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = George Barney, {{circa}} 1860 | birth_date = {{birth date|1792|5|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England | death_date = {{death date and age |1862|4|16 |1792|5|19|df=yes}} | death_place = St Leonards, New South Wales | allegiance = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | branch = Board of Ordnance | branch_label = Branch | service_years = 1808–1846 | service_years_label = Years of service | rank = Lieutenant Colonel | rank_label = Rank | service_number = 402 | unit = Corps of Royal Engineers | commands = CRE, New South Wales, 1835–43<br>CRE, Athlone District, 1845<ref name="Hart1845">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=Henry George |title=The New Annual Army List |publisher=John Murray |location=London |date=1845 |page=273 |url=https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/1038/3091/103830915.23.pdf}}</ref><br>CRE, Woolwich, 1846<ref name="Hart1846">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=Henry George |title=The New Annual Army List |publisher=John Murray |location=London |date=1846 |page=273 |url=https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/1058/9977/105899774.23.pdf}}</ref> | battles = {{tree list}} * Napoleonic Wars ** Peninsular War *** Siege of Tarifa<ref name="Hart1840">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=Henry George |title=The New Annual Army List |publisher=John Murray |location=London |date=1840 |page=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NfENAAAAQAAJ&q=%22army+list%22+%22george+Barney%22&pg=PA290}}</ref> ** Capture of Les Saintes<ref name="Hart1840"/> ** Invasion of Guadeloupe<ref name="Hart1840"/> {{tree list/end}} | battles_label = Campaigns | awards = | memorials = Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel George Barney, Bligh & Barney Reserve, The Rocks, Sydney<ref name="HNSW4500468">{{cite web|title=Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel George Barney |website=Heritage NSW: Heritage and Conservation Register |url=https://apps.environment.nsw.gov.au/dpcheritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4500468 |access-date=29 May 2021}}</ref> | relations = Joseph Barney (father)<br>Maria Jane Scott (daughter) | other_work = Colonial Engineer, 1835–44<br>Superintendent North Australia, 1846–47<br>Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, 1849–55<br>Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1851–56<br>Surveyor General, 1855–59<ref name="HNSW4500468"/> | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | module = }}
Lieutenant Colonel '''George Barney''' (19 May 1792 – 16 April 1862)<ref name="George Barney NSW Parl"/><ref name="Serle DAB">{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=George|Last=Barney|shortlink=0-dict-biogBa.html#barney1}}</ref> was a military engineer of the Corps of Royal Engineers<ref name="Connolly1898">{{cite book |last=Connolly |first=Thomas William John |title=Roll of Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers from 1660 to 1898 |editor=Richard Fielding Edwards |publisher=The Royal Engineers Institute |location=Chatham |date=1898 |url=https://archive.org/details/roll-of-officers-of-the-corps-of-royal-engineers-r.-f.-edwards/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|17}} and became Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of North Australia.
==Early life== George Barney was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, the son of Joseph Barney, drawing master at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England, and Jane, née Chandler (or Chambers).<ref name="George Barney NSW Parl">{{Cite NSW Parliament |id=243 |name=Lieutenant-Colonel George Barney (1792-1862) |former=Yes |access-date=23 April 2019}}</ref> He entered the army at 16 as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. He served in the Peninsular War and in the West Indies. He had several years experience of civil engineering in Jamaica. He was promoted to captain in 1825.<ref name="Barney ADB">{{cite AuDB |id2=barney-george-1744 |title=Barney, George (1792-1862) |year=1966 |pages=60–61}}</ref>
==Career in Australia== From 1835 a number of Royal Engineer officers with a detachment of the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners were sent out to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, Australia. Captain George Barney, Commanding Royal Engineer of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney on the ''British Sovereign'' with his wife and three children on 15 December 1835.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36854902 |title=Shipping Intelligence |newspaper=The Australian |date=15 December 1835 |access-date=31 May 2021 |page=2 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref name="Barney ADB" /> He was followed in by Lieutenant Henry Williamson Lugard, RE, on the ''Hive'' and ''Tamar'' on 16 December,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12853633 |title=The Sydney Herald |newspaper=The Sydney Herald |volume=5 |issue=432 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 December 1835 |access-date=31 May 2021 |page=2 |via=Trove}}</ref> and their Clerk of Works, George Graham, and his family in 1836.
Barney was appointed a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 17 July 1843, but resigned in August 1843.<ref name="Members list">{{NSW Parliamentary Record |part=3 |accessdate=2020-10-22 |page=4}}</ref>
==Late life== Barney was appointed successively chief commissioner of crown lands on 1 January 1849,<ref name="Members list"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230151487 |title=Crown Lands beyond the settled districts: Appointment of Chief Commissioner |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=146 |date=26 December 1848 |accessdate=24 April 2019 |page=1862 |via=Trove}}</ref> and Surveyor General of New South Wales on 11 October 1855.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12981678|title=Advertising|date=13 October 1855|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=4 October 2018|issue=5703|location=New South Wales, Australia|volume=35|page=5|via=Trove}}</ref> He was again appointed a member of the Legislative Council from 13 October 1851 to 29 February 1856.<ref name="Members list"/> He was married to Portia Henrietta Peale.<ref>{{cite news |date=25 April 1862 |title=Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225232305 |accessdate=7 November 2025 |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |location=New South Wales, Australia |page=807 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=74}}</ref> One of their daughters, Maria Jane Scott, was a painter and novelist.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maria Jane Scott |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A5095 |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |publisher=The University of Queensland}}</ref>
He died at Sydney on 16 April 1862.
==Legacy== thumb|Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel George Barney, RE, at The Rocks, Sydney Barney's North Sydney house, '''Wotonga''', was later acquired by the Commonwealth and, after extensions, became Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia.
There is a monument to George Barney in The Rocks, Sydney ({{Coord|-33.859013|151.209041|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW|name=Lieutenant Colonel George Barney monument}}).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://monumentaustralia.org.au/search/display/23457-lieutenant-colonel-george-barney|title=Lieutenant Colonel George Barney|website=Monument Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003233949/http://monumentaustralia.org.au/search/display/23457-lieutenant-colonel-george-barney|archive-date=3 October 2018|url-status=live|access-date=4 October 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Mount Barney in the Scenic Rim Region of Queensland is named after him.<ref>{{cite QPN|40972|Mount Barney|access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref>
The suburb of Barney Point in Gladstone, Queensland is named after him.<ref name="placename">{{cite QPN|46720|Barney Point|access-date=8 July 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |first=Keith |last=Jobst |title=The Barneys 1835–1865: A Pioneer Family |publisher=CopyRight Publishing |location=Brisbane |edition=2 |date=2007 |isbn=9781876344276}} Additional sources listed by the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'': * ''Historical Records of Australia'', Series I, vols 17–22, 25, 26 * {{citation |last=Hogan |first=James Francis |title=The Gladstone Colony: An Unwritten Chapter of Australian History |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |location=London |date=1898}} * {{cite book |last=Coleman |first=Keith |title=Short History of the Military Forces in N.S.W. from 1788 to 1953 |editor=O D O'Brien |publisher=Australian Military Forces, Eastern Command |location=Sydney |date=1953}} * {{cite book |last=Kerr |first=James Semple |title=Design for Convicts: An Account of Design for Convict Establishments in the Australian Colonies During the Transportation Era |publisher=Library of Australian History in association with the National Trust of Australia (NSW) and the Australian Society for Historical Archaeology |location=Sydney |date=1984 |isbn=9780908120543 |url=https://archive.org/details/designforconvict0000kerr/page/88/mode/2up}} * {{cite journal |last=Shaw |first=A B |title=Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour |journal=Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society |volume=23, part 5 |date=1937 |pages=382–387}} * {{cite web |url=http://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/barney_george |title=Barney, George |accessdate=9 October 2015 |last=Vincent |first=Alison |date=2008 |work=Dictionary of Sydney |publisher=Dictionary of Sydney Trust}}<nowiki>[</nowiki>CC-By-SA<nowiki>]</nowiki>
== External links ==
* [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183959420902061 Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877], State Library of Queensland- includes digitised letters written by Barney to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-new | office}} {{s-ttl | title = Commander of the Royal Engineers<br> and Colonial Engineer | years = 1836–1843}} {{s-aft | after = Lieutenant-Colonel James Gordon |as = commander of the Royal Engineers}} {{Succession box | title = Surveyor General of New South Wales | years = 1855–1859 | before = Thomas Mitchell | after = Alexander Grant McLean}} {{s-par|au-nsw-lc}} {{s-new | parliament}} {{s-ttl | title = Appointed member |years=Jul - Aug 1843}} {{s-aft | after = John Plunkett}} {{s-new | parliament}} {{s-ttl | title = Appointed member |years=Oct 1851 - Feb 1856}} {{s-non | reason = Council replaced by new Parliament}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barney, George}} Category:1792 births Category:1862 deaths Category:Military personnel from Wolverhampton Category:Royal Engineers officers Category:British civil engineers Category:Surveyors General of New South Wales Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Category:19th-century Australian politicians Category:British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales Category:British Army personnel of the Peninsular War