Obituaries Australia

Mr. Rupert Ryder, formerly of Calga, New South Wales, who died in Sydney on the 5th August last, was a native of that city. He was educated at Mr. Cape's school, and afterwards, entered and was for some years in the employ of Aspinall, Brown & Co., merchants, Sydney, in which firm his father, Thomas Urmson Ryder, was a partner.

In 1850 he went with his father and family to England, and with them returned to Melbourne in 1851, the time of the gold diggings excitement.

Some of his brothers having purchased the island of Mango, in the Fiji group, and started the growing of cotton there, he joined them in 1868, and the venture was a success. After a few years the white residents came to the conclusion that annexation to Great Britain was desirable, and Mr. Ryder took a prominent part in the movement that was initiated for the purpose. When Fiji became a Crown colony he accepted a portfolio in the Government established by Sir Arthur Gordon in 1874 as Minister for Finance and Trade. He occupied this position for some time, and then returned to plantation life.

In 1880 the Ryder Bros, having sold the island of Mango returned to New South Wales, and looking round in Queensland and New South Wales for a pastoral property, eventually purchased Calga, in the Coonamble district, New South Wales, where by constant care they secured a great name for their Merino flock in all the States. Calga was sold in 1905 to the Australian, Mercantile, Land and Finance Co., and with the sale the firm of Ryder Bros. became extinct, after being in existence 40 years.

The late Mr. Rupert Ryder married Margaret, daughter of Mr. Otty Cudlip, of Levuka, Fiji. He had no family, and his wife predeceased him by 10 years.