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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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Lost" was the short life of a pet bird, told in poem and picture. In 1860 appeared "Some of my Bush Friends in Tasmania," published by Day & Sons, a large and elaborate work on the flora of the colony, with numerous coloured plates from the author's drawings, and original poems and prose. "Ebba," a novel, first appeared as a serial in the Australasian, then was published by Tinsley. "Grandmamma's Verse-Book for Young Australia," poems for children on local subjects, was printed in Hobart for the author. "Tasmanian Friends and Foes, Furred, Feathered and Finned," is also a book for young people, with coloured plates from the author's drawings (1880: Marcus Ward). In recognition of her life of scientific, artistic and literary work in the colony, Mrs. Meredith was long since elected an honorary member of the Tasmanian Royal Society, and was granted by the Government a pension of £100 a year. Prize medals have been awarded to her for botanical drawings of Tasmanian subjects, in the Exhibitions of London, 1862; Melbourne, 1866 and 1881; Sydney, 1870 and 1875; and Calcutta, 1884. A second series of "Bush Friends in Tasmania" is now in the press—Mrs. Meredith having made the voyage home, after an absence of fifty-one years, for the purpose of publishing her last book.

Merewether, Francis Lewis Shaw, B.A., was Auditor-General of New South Wales for many years, and since his retirement has been in receipt of a pension of £900 per annum. He was one of the first Fellows of the Senate of the University of Sydney.

Meyer, Oscar, son of Gasper Theodor Meyer by his marriage with Virginia Vannetti, was born at Florence, Italy, Oct. 26th, 1851. He was educated in that city, and took part in various exhibitions in his native country. In 1878 he was in Paris in charge of the principal Italian exhibits. In 1879 he represented the Italian Court at the International Exhibition in Sydney; Commissioner for New South Wales at the International Geographical Congress at Venice, 1881; superintendent of the New South Wales Court at the Melbourne International Exhibition 1888-9; Commissioner for New South Wales at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition at Dunedin 1889-90; Executive Commissioner for New South Wales at the International Exhibition of Mining and Metallurgy, held at the Crystal Palace, July to Oct 1890. Mr. Meyer was married at Tamworth, New South Wales, Oct. 1st, 1881, to Miss Maria Rodgers of Glen Elgin, New England, New South Wales.

Michael, James Lionel, was one of the earliest of Australian poets. He was a solicitor at Grafton, in New South Wales, and published in Sydney in 1854 a volume entitled "Songs without Music," a collection of tuneful lyrics, and in 1857 "John Cumberland," a long narrative poem, containing passages of distinct ability. He was found drowned in the Clarence river in 1868.

Michie, Hon. Sir Archibald, K.C.M.G., Q.C., sometime Agent-General, Victoria, is the son of the late Archibald Michie, of Maida Vale, a merchant in London, where he was born in 1818. He was educated at Westminster School, entered at the Middle Temple in Nov. 1834, and was called to the Bar in May 1838. In the following year Mr. Michie emigrated to Sydney, and practised his profession there with success. In the New South Wales capital he devoted much of his time to journalism, and acted as a law reporter, ultimately becoming associated with Mr. Robert Lowe (the late Lord Sherbrooke) in the conduct of the Atlas newspaper, started in 1844 to champion the then current phase of local Liberalism. After revisiting England, Mr. Michie returned to Australia in 1852, taking up his abode in Victoria, where the discovery of gold and the concession of separation from New South Wales served to open up the brightest prospects of prosperous activity. He was at once admitted to the Victorian Bar, and on Oct. 26th, 1852, was nominated by the Government a non-elective member of the Legislative Council, as the single House of Parliament was then called. At the close of his second session Mr. Michie resigned his seat and devoted himself to the practice of his profession and to journalistic pursuits. From 1854 to 1856 he was proprietor of the Melbourne Herald, a morning paper, which involved him in loss. When the Ballarat rioters were placed on their trial after the affair of the Eureka stockade, Mr. Michie volun-

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