The life story of our first President of our Bowling Club
Henry Richard Nicholls
H R Nicholls was born in Regent Street London in 1830, his home was close
to Buckingham Palace. In his early days he lectured and wrote articles for
newspapers.
In 1853 Henry migrated to Melbourne and wrote articles and then became the
editor of the anti government “Diggers Advocate”, printed in Melbourne and
then sent to the mine fields. He finally was lured by the quest for gold and
moved to Ballarat and remained there for the next 30 years. He was mining at
Creswick but not too successfully. He also wrote articles for the Ballarat
Times newspaper. During his time in Ballarat he joined the mining rebels at
the Eureka Stockade but left before the storming of the stockade because of
the lack of organisation. He later became the editor of “The Ballarat Star“
newspaper. Whilst in Ballarat he did a great deal of work to recognise the
hardship and injustice the miners suffered.
In 1880 Henry unsuccessfully stood for parliament against Peter Lalor the
leader of the Eureka Miners.
In 1883 he was appointed the editor of the Hobart “Mercury” newspaper a
position he held until his death on 22nd August 1912. Following the Justice
Higgins “Harvester Decision” in 1907 he wrote a fiery editorial critical of the
decision that landed him in court for contempt. He successfully defended the
action.
On his death he left a family of two daughters and six sons. He lived in Queen
Street, Sandy Bay.
His son Herbert Nicholls (1868-1940), later became Sir Herbert Nicholls. He
was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania (1909-1937) and Chief
Justice (1914-1937).