XVII. 
most notable public man amongst us, was a squatter, and came into notice whilst engaged amongst sheep 
and cattle, and with the stockwhip in the ranges, I am happy to say that having been a squatter in my 
early days, I can look back upon these facts with some degree of satisfaction. In fact, squatters have not 
only made politicians, but they have made very earnest and very unselfish politicians.” 
Among those who even before the introduction of Responsible Government 
desired to serve the country in the eapacity of legislator, was William Macleay 
whose intellectual horizon was never at any time bounded by the possibilities of 
merely accumulating wealth. In 1855 he was elected to the old Legislative Council 
as Member for the Lachlan and Lower Darling, and in the year following, on the 
introduction of Responsible Government, he was returned to the first Legislative 
Assembly for the same constituency, which he continued to represent until 1859, 
after which until the dissolution of November, 1874, when he retired in order to 
devote himself more fully to the study of natural science, he sat as Member for the 
Murrumbidgee electorate in succession to his cousin George Macleay, already referred 
to, who retired and subsequently left Australia. In 1877 he was called to the Upper 
House, of which he remained a member for the rest of his life; and though he did 
not take a very prominent share in the deliberations of the Legislative Council, 
his keen interest in all public matters continued unabated. 
As a politician Sir William was no office-seeker; he preferably took up the 
position of an independent member characterised by a sincere desire for useful 
legislation in the interests of the progress of the country. Firmly believing that the 
capital and the larger towns received more than a fair share of attention to the 
partial neglect of the inland districts, he consistently and warmly espoused the cause 
of the latter, especially in the matter of improving the means of internal communica- 
tion. He was strongly impressed with the conviction that the extension of the 
trunk lines of railways would be an important factor in hastening on the development 
of the country, and in the case of the Southern line more particularly would tend to 
keep within the colony to which it territorially belonged a considerable amount of 
trade in wool and other produce which by the enterprise of a neighbouring colony 
and especially by the want of enterprise at home was in danger of being diverted. 
As a sequel to his persistent advocacy of the extension of the Southern line of 
railway to the border, he had the satisfaction of being present, in September, 1878, 
_at the opening of the line to Wagga, 309 miles from Sydney. And no one better 
than himself who had so often made the wearisome journey by road could better 
appreciate the importance of that extension. The journey from Sydney to Sir 
William’s station, about 90 miles distant from Wagga, before the introduction of 
railways used to occupy him nine days, travelling in his own vehicle, and resting at 
night. The journey by mail coach, travelling day and night, was of course shorter, 
and for teams much longer. The journey by train to Wagga now occupies about ten 
c 
