Obituaries Australia

We regret to announce the death of Mr. Simon Staughton, one of the early Victorian settlers, and one who personally and by repute is well known throughout the Australian colonies. The event took place at four o'clock yesterday morning, at the Prince of Wales Hotel, St. Kilda. For some years past Mr Staughton has suffered from disease of the liver, and for the last twelve months he has been to a great extent confined to his house. The immediate attack which occasioned his death was of some six weeks' duration, and its fatal termination was by no means unexpected. Mr. Staughton arrived in Victoria in the early part of 1841. Though the architect of his own fortune, he brought with him means which enabled him to enter largely and at once into pastoral pursuits. He purchased the Exford Station, situated some twenty-four miles from Melbourne, from Dr. Walton, and from this locality he never removed. During the severe though temporary depression the colony suffered prior to the discovery of the gold-fields. Mr. Staughton had to put forth his best efforts to maintain his position; but in the end he was successful. When prosperous times returned, he devoted his energies to the purchase of the fee-simple of his station, and at the present time some 70,000 acres–nearly the whole of the run–are in the possession of the family. His accumulated wealth thus enabled him to become one of the largest land owners in the colony, and in addition he purchased many city properties, was owner of a station on the Darling, and had recently taken a prominent position in connexion with the Melbourne Banking Company. Mr. Staughton has never taken an active part in the political affairs of the colony. He was a native of Huntingdonshire and was in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He has left a family of seven children. The funeral of the deceased gentleman is announced to take place on Wednesday morning.