Geoffrey Eagar

Who was Geoffrey Eagar?

Geoffrey Eagar was an accountant and Treasurer of the Government of New South Wales, Australia.

Eagar was born in Sydney, son of Edward, an emancipated convict who helped found the Westpac Bank, then known as the Bank of New South Wales. Edward left Australia to take a legal battle over the rights of freed convicts to London, and did not return. His mother Jemima then married William Wentworth, and gave birth to a son. In 1843 he married Mary Ann Bucknell, and the couple had a son, Arthur.

Eagar worked at the Bank of New South Wales from 1854 for around five years before being appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council, the upper house of the state government in 1859. He resigned a year later but in 1863 he was elected to the lower house, representing the seat of West Sydney. He served in the seat twice, from 1863 to 1864 and 1865 to 1869. During this period, he served as Secretary for Public Works from 1858 to 1860 and as Colonial Treasurer from 1863 to 1865 and from 1866 to 1868. After leaving parliament he was appointed head of the New South Wales Treasury from 1872 to 1891.

Eagar died at his home at in the Sydney suburb of Glebe Point, survived by his wife and three of their four children. He also had a house in the Blue Mountains, opposite Eagar's Platform, now called Valley Heights railway station.