John Edgar Byrne

Who was John Edgar Byrne?

John Edgar Byrne or 'Bobby' Byrne, Queensland bushman, Gulf country pioneer turned journalist and newspaper proprietor. Founder and owner-editor of the Queensland Figaro, later known as the Queensland Figaro and Punch.

'Bobby' Byrne was born in Canning Town, East London in 1842, and was of Scottish descent. He had two brothers Julius Byrne, a stockbroker of Gracechurch St London, the other being Dr Theodore E. D. Byrne better known as the “Jumping Dr of Gympie”. The latter was originally a surgeon apprenticed to a parish doctor at Islington, but he later signed up as a surgeon superintendent in charge of the immigrant ship 'The Light Brigade', subsequently arriving to Brisbane on 18 May 1863.

'Bobby' Byrne himself presumably came to Queensland around 1860. He earned his spurs and a solid reputation as an Australian 'bushman' during the famed 1860s Gulf country rush. He subsequently worked for several years as a busman and occasional free-lance journalist on Queensland's north western frontier before marriage, urban family life and a full-time position in journalism finally caught up with him.