Editing Redmond Barry (section)

==Life and work in Australia==
Barry arrived in New South Wales in April 1837 and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar.<ref name="Galbally">[[Ann Galbally|Galbally, Ann]], ''Redmond Barry: An Anglo-Irish Australian'' (Carlton, Vic., Melbourne University Press, 1995)</ref> After two years in Sydney, Barry moved to Melbourne, a city with which he was ever afterwards closely identified, arriving at the new [[Port Phillip]] Settlement on 13 November 1839.<ref name=Galbally/>

In 1841, Barry served as the defence lawyer for [[Tunnerminnerwait]] and Maulboyheenner, two Indigenous rebels on trial for murder. Barry questioned the legal basis of British authority over Aborigines who were not citizens and claimed that the evidence was dubious and circumstantial. Despite his best efforts, the two men were found guilty and subsequently hanged on 20 January 1842, becoming [[List of people legally executed in Victoria|the first people in Victoria to be legally executed]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/call-for-memorial-for-first-men-hanged-in-melbourne-20120607-1zyy2.html|title=Call for memorial for first men hanged in Melbourne|first=Miki|last=Perkins|date=7 June 2012|website=The Age}}</ref>

After practising his profession for some years, he became commissioner of the Court of Requests, and after the creation in 1851 of the colony of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], out of the Port Phillip district of New South Wales, he became the first [[Solicitor-General of Victoria]], with a seat in both the Legislative and Executive Councils.<ref name=EB/> In 1852, he was appointed a judge of the [[Supreme Court of Victoria]]. Later he also served as acting Chief Justice and Administrator of the government.
[[File:Redmond Barry, Chancellor 1853-1880.jpg|thumb|Sir Redmond Barry]]
Barry was noted for his service to the community, and he convinced the state government to spend money on public works, particularly on education. He was instrumental in the foundation of the [[Royal Melbourne Hospital]] (1848), the [[University of Melbourne]] (1853), and the [[State Library of Victoria]] (1854).<ref name=EB/> He served as the first [[Chancellor (education)|chancellor]] of the university until his death and was also president of the trustees of the State Library. He was the first President of the [https://federation.edu.au/about-us/our-university/history/geoffrey-blainey-research-centre/buildings-and-sites/former-ballarat-court-1st-school-of-mines Ballarat School of Mines] (1870), which later became [[Ballarat University]] and is now [[Federation University Australia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://victoriancollections.net.au/media/collectors/4f729f6797f83e0308601707/items/5554383d2162f12210077361/5554386f2162f122100776d2/original.pdf|title=The School of Mines and Industries Ballarat – A guide to heritage buildings at the SMB campus in Lydiard Street South, Ballarat|publisher=The University of Ballarat|access-date=30 June 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827183514/https://victoriancollections.net.au/media/collectors/4f729f6797f83e0308601707/items/5554383d2162f12210077361/5554386f2162f122100776d2/original.pdf|archivedate=27 August 2016}}</ref>

Barry was the judge in the [[Eureka Stockade]] treason trials in the Supreme Court in 1855. The thirteen miners were all acquitted.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-02-28 |title=He played a significant part in Victorian history, but it's taken 164 years for John Joseph's grave to be marked |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-28/john-joseph-recognised-168-years-after-eureka-stockade/102026486 |access-date=2024-07-18 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}</ref>

In 1857, Barry conducted the inquest into the murder of Inspector-General [[John Giles Price]], who was beaten to death by a group of at least 15 convicts during an inspection of the prison quarries in [[Williamstown, Victoria]]. Seven of the convicts involved in the attack on Price were found guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging. The seven men were executed at [[Melbourne Gaol]] within a three-day period from 28 to 30 April.<ref>Barry, John Vincent; ''[https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10074502 The Life and Death of John Price: A Study of the Exercise of Naked Power]''; Melbourne University Press; 1964.</ref>

He chaired the committee for the [[Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition]] in Melbourne,<ref name="argos8page">{{cite news|title=Account of the Victorian Exhibition of 1875, an 8 page supplement in The Argus|publication-date=3 September 1875}}</ref> and represented Victoria at the [[International Exhibition (1862)|London International Exhibition]] of 1862 and at the [[Centennial Exposition|Philadelphia Exhibition]] of 1876.<ref name=EB/> He was made a [[knight bachelor]] in 1860, and was created a [[Knight Commander]] of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] (KCMG) in 1877.<ref name=EB/>

===Kelly cases===
In October 1878, at Beechworth court, Barry presided over a case in which Mrs Ellen Kelly (King) and two men were accused of [[aiding and abetting]] the [[attempted murder]] of a [[Victoria Police]] [[constable]] named Alexander Fitzpatrick. After sentencing Mrs Kelly to three years with hard labour, Barry said, "if your son [[Ned Kelly|Ned]] were here I would make an example of him for the whole of Australia – I would give him fifteen years".{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

In 1880, Barry presided at the final trial of [[Ned Kelly]], who was tried and convicted of murdering three other Victoria Police constables. The trial and sentencing have since been the subject of many articles and books by lawyers and historians. When he sentenced Kelly to [[Hanging|death by hanging]], Barry uttered the customary words "May God have mercy on your soul". According to the transcripts, Kelly replied "I will go a little further than that, and say I will see you there when I go." On 23 November 1880, only twelve days after Kelly's execution, Barry died from what the doctors described as "congestion of the lungs and a carbuncle in the neck".{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

===Contribution to libraries===
[[File:State Library Victoria reading room.jpg|thumb|150px|The Redmond Barry Reading Room in the State Library of Victoria]]
Barry laid the foundations of the Supreme Court Library (Melbourne) and was the prime mover establishing the [[Melbourne Public Library]]. As a legislator he promoted the Parliamentary Library. He organised the Governor, Sir [[Charles Hotham]], to lay the foundation stones of [[University of Melbourne]], Melbourne Public Library and Sunbury Industrial School [later Sunbury Lunatic Asylum] in 1854 – all on the same day.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60446344 "HIS HONOR SIR REDMOND BARRY, KT., M.A., LL.D., &c."], ''Illustrated Australian News for Home Readers'' (Melbourne) (National Library of Australia): p. 63. 29 February 1872. Retrieved 9 February 2012.</ref>
 
Sir Redmond Barry virtually single-handedly planned the Melbourne Public Library building and its contents. He had a 'hands-on' approach personally writing book selection and acquisition procedures – even helping to shelve books for the Library's 1856 opening. In 1862 and 1877–1878, he went to Europe, England and America, purchasing books and pictures for University, Law and Public Libraries and Art Gallery. As Board of Trustees Chairman he was responsible for starting travelling libraries and supporting extended library hours. In September 1870, he "acquired" [[Marcus Clarke]] as Public Library Trustees clerk (later secretary), who until his death in 1881 worked as sub-librarian. Historian Geoffrey Blainey has said: "There can be fewer men with greater concern for and a greater and better vision for the young colonial society in which Redmond Barry made his life".<ref>Blainey, Geoffrey, ''A Centenary History of the University of Melbourne''. Carlton, Vic.; Melbourne University Press; 1957.</ref>

Books and reading were intrinsic to Barry's own educational and intellectual development, so he wanted these advantages for other people. The reason for his support of the Melbourne Public Library, the Law Library and his support of Mechanic Institutes was free access to libraries for all and not just a select few.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}