Wentworth, William Charles (1790-1872), was an Australian pioneer, statesman, and lawyer. As a pioneer, Wentworth was a member of the first party that crossed the Blue Mountains, in 1813. As a statesman and lawyer, he did much to gain responsible government for the colony of New South Wales.
Wentworth began his campaign for responsible self-government for New South Wales in the 1820’s. In 1824, he and Robert Wardell, a journalist and lawyer, published a newspaper, The Australian. In articles in the paper, Wentworth opposed the policies of the British government and campaigned for an elected parliament for New South Wales. He supported the cause of the emancipists (pardoned convicts) and launched bitter attacks on the exclusives (wealthy free settlers).
In 1835, Wentworth helped found the Australian Patriotic Association to agitate for representative government. He campaigned for legal reforms, including trial by jury. His efforts met with success. In 1838, the British government passed control over the administration of justice to the colonists. In 1842, it allowed the colony to have a partly elected council. In the election of 1843, Wentworth led the landowners’ group. He was elected as a member for Sydney.
By the time of his election, Wentworth had become a wealthy landowner. He had also become more conservative in his opinions. With the other landowners, he tried to prevent the British government from ending transportation of convicts to the colony.
In 1850, the British government passed an act under which the Australian colonists could become self-governing. Wentworth became chairman of a committee appointed to draft a constitution for New South Wales. He argued that the new constitution should be conservative and that it should provide for a hereditary upper house. But people laughed at the idea of this form of upper house. In 1854, Wentworth sailed for Britain to see a revised constitution for New South Wales receive the approval of the British Parliament. He returned to New South Wales in 1861. Later, the governor appointed him president of the Legislative Council.
Wentworth was born on Norfolk Island. He was educated at a military college in Woolwich, England, and later at Cambridge University. In 1813, he joined the explorers Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson in crossing the Blue Mountains.
