Osmond Gilles

{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | birth_name = Osmond Gilles | name = Osmond Gilles | image = Osmond Gilles.jpeg | office = [[Treasurer of South Australia]] | governor = [[John Hindmarsh|Sir John Hindmarsh]] | term_start = 28 December 1836 | term_end = 1 October 1839 | predecessor = ''office established'' | successor = [[John Alexander Jackson|John Jackson]] | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1788|8|24}} | birth_place = [[London]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1866|9|25|1788|8|24}} | death_place = [[Glen Osmond]], [[South Australia]] | spouse = Patience Oakden | party = | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Grazier, landowner | profession = | footnotes = }}

__NOTOC__ '''Osmond Gilles''' (24 August 1788 – 25 September 1866) was a settler, pastoralist, mine owner and the [[Colony of South Australia]]’s first [[Treasurer of South Australia|colonial treasurer]].

Born in [[London]] of [[Huguenot]] descent, in 1816 he went into partnership with Philip Oakden in [[Hamburg]], Germany as a merchant, where in 1825 he married Patience Oakden, Philip's sister. They returned to England, where his wife died in 1833. They had no children, and Gilles never remarried, but took on several protegees, including his nephew [[John Jackson Oakden]]. Gilles was struck by [[Robert Gouger]], the first Colonial Secretary, leading to the latter's suspension.

Gilles migrated to the new Australian colony on {{HMS|Buffalo|1813|6}} in 1836 accompanied by his ward Emily Blunden (referred to as Blundell on the passenger list), sister of Dr John Blunden, and acted as the Colonial Treasurer. He was a prominent businessman and land owner, with the largest holdings of any settler in 1837. He was, with his secretary [[William Finke]], and a few others, the fortunate ticket-holder in the ballot for the purchase of city acres at [[Glenelg, South Australia|Glenelg]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750393 |title=Choice of the Township of Glenelg and the New Port Section |newspaper=[[South Australian Register|South Australian Gazette And Colonial Register]] |volume=II |issue=55 |location=South Australia |date=9 February 1839 |accessdate=22 March 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> of which he took full advantage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.durrant.id.au/land_sales.html|title=The Durrant Family Website: Early land sales|publisher=Chris Durrant|accessdate=22 March 2017}}</ref> He sat on the [[Street Naming Committee]] on 23 May 1837.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Street Naming Committee {{!}} SA History Hub|url=https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/organisations/street-naming-committee,%20/organisations/street-naming-committee|access-date=2021-10-12|website=sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Quirk of divided east-west Adelaide city street names emerges from one compromise in very divided colony|url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/choosing-city-street-names-in-1837-an-acrimonious-farce--another-quarrel-in-divided-colonial-adelaide|access-date=2021-10-12|website=adelaideaz.com}}</ref> Gilles was a major benefactor, and at times sustained the colony's treasury with his own funds.

==Named for Gilles== *[[Gilles Street]] in the [[Adelaide central business district]] *Gilles Arcade, off [[Currie Street]], site of the [[Queen's Theatre, Adelaide|Queen's Theatre]] *[[Glen Osmond Road]] *[[O.G. Hotel]], Gilles Plains, founded 1843 and still operating<ref name=Gillis>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57547077 |title="Gillis" Street, Burnside |newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)]] |volume=LXXXIII |issue=22,441 |location=South Australia |date=11 October 1918 |author=A. T. Saunders|accessdate=10 December 2017 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia|author-link=A. T. Saunders }}</ref> *O.G. Road, a major thoroughfare through the suburb of [[Klemzig, South Australia|Klemzig]] adjacent and much later than the O.G. Hotel *''[[O.G. (cutter ship)|O.G.]]'', a [[cutter (boat)|cutter]] built in Glenelg 1840<ref name=Gillis/> *Osmond Terrace, a major thoroughfare through the suburbs of [[Norwood, South Australia|Norwood]] and [[Fullarton, South Australia|Fullarton]]. (Osmond Road, [[Marion, South Australia|Marion]] was named for Harry Osmond, a local businessman.) *Adelaide suburbs of [[Glen Osmond]] and [[Gilles Plains]]. A new suburb formed from a portion of Gilles Plains has been named [[Oakden]] after Gilles' wife. *Gilleston Park on the Gilles Plains and farmed by Dr. John Blunden,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158919865 |title=Advertising |newspaper=[[Adelaide Observer]] |issue=90 |location=South Australia |date=15 March 1845 |accessdate=23 March 2017 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *Gilleston, now part of [[Balhannah]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90956353 |title=Towns, People, and Things We Ought to Know |newspaper=[[The Chronicle (Adelaide)]] |volume=LXXVI |issue=4,011 |location=South Australia |date=28 September 1933 |accessdate=23 March 2017 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> *[[Lake Gilles]] which is located in the north of [[Eyre Peninsula]] was named after Gilles by the British explorer, [[Edward John Eyre]], in 1839.<ref name=PLB>{{cite web|title=Search result for " Lake Gilles (Lake)" (Record no SA0026121)|url=http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/#|work=Property Location Browser|publisher=[[Government of South Australia]]|accessdate=19 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012010923/http://maps.sa.gov.au/plb/|archive-date=12 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also== * [[French Australians]] * [[French British]]

==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== * [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilles-osmond-2097 Osmond Gilles at the Australian Dictionary of Biography]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilles, Osmond}} [[Category:Settlers of South Australia]] [[Category:1788 births]] [[Category:1866 deaths]] [[Category:Public servants of South Australia]] [[Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia]] [[Category:Treasurers of South Australia]] [[Category:19th-century Australian politicians]] [[Category:Politicians from the Colony of South Australia]] [[Category:British emigrants to the Colony of South Australia]]