Hall, Edward Smith

Banker, charity worker and editor who used his editorial position as an advocate of a free press, representative government and trial by common jury.  In November 1819 he was appointed to the position of the coroner of the territory of New South Wales by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, for which he was paid an annual salary of £80. He resigned from the position in October 1821 and went to his property at Lake Bathurst near Goulburn. On his return to Sydney in 1826 he founded the newspaper The Monitor with Edward Hill, leading to many disputes with Governor Ralph Darling and convictions for libel.