William Wentworth

William Charles Wentworth (August 1790 – 20 March 1872) was an Australian statesman, author, explorer, lawyer, newspaper editor and pastoralist, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in colonial New South Wales. He was among the first colonists to articulate a nascent Australian identity.

Wentworth was the leading advocate for the rights of emancipists, trial by jury and representative self-government. The establishment of Australia's first independent newspaper by Wentworth and Robert Wardell led to the introduction of press freedom in Australia. A proponent of secular and universal education, he participated in the creation of the state education system and legislated to establish Australia's first university, the University of Sydney. During the 1840s, Wentworth ended his previous support for free-settler migration and expressed more restrictive views on voting rights, though he later reversed course on both. He led the drafting of New South Wales' first self-governing constitution establishing the Parliament of New South Wales, Australia's first. Wentworth consistently advocated for Australian nationhood both in Australia and Britain, and gained credit from Sir Henry Parkes for his advocacy of self-government; a key figure in Australian and New South Wales history, he is widely commemorated.

Before his career advancing these causes, Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and William Lawson led the 1813 expedition across the Blue Mountains, the first successful British traversal of the region.