The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Moreton, Hon. Berkeley Basil
Moreton, Hon. Berkeley Basil, M.L.C., fourth son of Henry George Francis, 2nd Earl of Ducie, by Elizabeth, elder daughter of John, 2nd Lord Sherborne, was born on July 18th, 1834. He was educated at Rugby School, Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 1855 he arrived in Sydney, and in the next year proceeded to Queensland. In 1870 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Burnett, and in 1878 for Maryborough, and again for Burnett in 1883. In March 1883 he joined the Griffith Administration as Postmaster-General, but in the following month accepted the portfolio of Secretary of Public Instruction, which he exchanged for that of Colonial Secretary in April 1886. He retired with his colleagues in June 1888, having been appointed to a seat in the Legislative Council in the previous May, subsequently to his defeat at Burnett at the General Election by Mr. G. H. Jones. When Mr. Jones resigned in 1891, Mr. Moreton left the Legislative Council to contest the seat, but was again defeated.