Obituaries Australia

The recent death of the veteran, Mt. Henry Colden Antill, who, in his 89th year, passed away at the residence of his grand-daughter, Mrs. Fred. James, of Granville, severs another link with the historic past. The late Mr Antill was the second son of Major Henry Cobden Antill, who came to this country in 1810 as aide de camp to Governor Macquarie. He, the deceased, was born at Picton, married Miss Hatch of Queanbeyan, and leaves a family of three sons and two daughters. A sister of the deceased, who has attained the great age of 91 years, is now living in England, a brother Mr. Edward Antill lives at Chatswood. Mrs. Pockley (formerly Miss Selina Antill) is on a trip to the old country. There were several other brothers and the older members of the family were amongst the first pupils at the King's School. The late Major Antill, father of deceased, accompanied Governor and Mrs. Macquarie on their first journey over the Blue Mountains in 1815; when the town of Bathurst was laid out and named. For this service he received a grant of land, the first in the district. Major Antill kept a diary of the journey by Captain Cox's party across the mountains, and this is now a valuable historic record. Major Antill gave the name of Picton, after one of Wellington's generals, to the place still bearing that name, and the deceased spent his childhood in that district (where his father had received land grants) living near the astronomer, Mr. Louis Rumkor. Major Antill was police magistrate for the County of Camden. The deceased was, in his younger days, a man of remarkably fine physique, a splendid specimen of the early Australian. Of late years, however, he had been practically invalided by his extreme age. His late wife pre-deceased him by some 25 years.