Chancellors

The Hon Francis Lewis Shaw Merewether

(1811 – 1899)

BA Camb
Fellow of Senate 1850-1875
Vice-Chancellor (Vice-Provost) 1854-1862
Chancellor 1862-1865

Francis Lewis Shaw Merewether, the son of a clergyman, arrived from England in New South Wales in 1838.

He rapidly secured promotion in the government service, first as Immigrant Agent, then as Acting Colonial Treasurer (1841), Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court at Port Phillip, Clerk of the Councils (1842-51), Postmaster General and member of the Executive Council. He was an Alderman on Sydney’s first Town Council.

Merewether was instrumental in the establishment of the University and successfully proposed that the 180-acre Gross Farm be accepted as the alternative site to the inadequate Sydney College. He was a member of the founding Senate of the University. He was elected the second Vice-Provost* in 1854, a position he held until he was elected Chancellor in 1862. As a member of the original Building Committee of the University, he won approval for the construction of the buildings designed by Edmund Blacket.

* Title changed to Vice-Chancellor in 1860