Christopher Rolleston

Christopher Rolleston CMG (27 July 1817 – 9 April 1888) was an English-born colonial public servant in Australia.

Rolleston was born 27 July 1817 in Watnall, Nottinghamshire, the second son of Rev. John Rolleston and Elizabeth, née Smelt.

A prominent colonial civil servant in New South Wales, Rolleston served as the Register-General of New South Wales (1855 – 1864). During his time as registrar general he was responsible for the launch of compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages. He also served in a range of previous roles including Commissioner of Crown Lands in the Darling Downs (1842-1853), private secretary to the Governor of New South Wales, Sir William Denison (1855), as well as auditor-general (1864-1883).

His commercial appointments included director, European Assurance Society, the Mercantile Bank of Sydney and the Australian Gas Light Company, and a superannuation fund commissioner.

He served as the president and later a trustee of the Australian Club. For his lifelong service to colonial New South Wales he was appointed CMG in 1879.

Legacy

A number of places in Queensland are named after him:

• The town of Rolleston in the Central Highlands Region (24°27′47″S 148°37′25″E/24.4631°S 148.6236°E/ -24.4631; 148.6236(Rolleston (town)))
• Mount Rolleston (27°47′54″S 151°43′04″E/27.7983°S 151.7178°E/ -27.7983; 151.7178(Mount Rolleston)) in Felton in the Toowoomba Region on the Darling Downs

Publications

• The Condition and Resources of New South Wales — A lecture delivered at Sydney, December 12, 1866. (1867)

External links

• at the Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Works by or about Christopher Rolleston at Wikisource
• Mennell, Philip (1892). "Rolleston, Christopher". The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
• , State Library of Queensland- includes digitised letters written by Rolleston to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales (Specifically Reel 14)