Henry Marjoribanks Chester
1832 — 3 October 1914
Henry Marjoribanks Chester (7‑59‑11)
Chester was born in London in 1832, where he was educated. He entered the service of the Indian navy in 1849, and remained an officer in it until its abolition in 1862 when he migrated to Queensland. He entered the public service in January 1866. At first in the Lands Department he was responsible for surveying the town sites of Charleville and Cunnamulla, and then became government land agent at Gladstone in 1867 and Gympie in 1868. In January 1869 he was appointed police magistrate at Somerset, on the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, but resigned in August 1870 and left the service for five years. From 1875 to 1903 Chester served continually as a police magistrate. He was often appointed to remote and difficult communities in north Queensland.
He returned to Somerset in September 1875 and on his advice the Queensland government transferred his headquarters in 1877 to a more central location at Thursday Island. There he kept order for eight years. He is probably best remembered for an incident in March 1883. Sir Thomas McIlwraith, put out by Britain's reluctance to annex a promising settlement in Papua, sent orders to Chester to go immediately to Port Moresby and take possession of the unoccupied eastern half of New Guinea. Sailing north in the Pearl, Chester planted the Union Jack at Port Moresby on 4 April 1883 and, as befitted an old naval officer, shelled a warlike party of Motu who were thought to threaten the security of the port. This act of occupation was later disowned by the British government.
In April 1885 Chester was transferred to Cairns, where he promoted the formation of a Volunteer Defence Corps, one of several formed in Queensland through fear of the Russians, and served as lieutenant. But he was not popular with the local residents. In June 1887 the Griffith government was moved to transfer him to Cloncurry. Rather than accept demotion to such a remote post, Chester tendered his resignation, but in November the government appointed him police magistrate at the new Croydon goldfield. There he gave satisfaction and was transferred in 1891 to Cooktown and in 1898 to Clermont where he remained until transferred in 1902 to Gladstone. He retired in 1903 and died on 3 October 1914.