amateur photographer, politician, judge, antiquarian, naturalist and pioneer of technical education, was born in Limerick, Ireland, son of Samuel Bindon and Eliza, née Massy. Soon after graduating in law in 1838 from Trinity College, Dublin, he married Susannah, daughter of Sir Hugh Dillon Massy; they had one son, Massy. The family emigrated to Victoria in 1855 where Samuel worked in the county courts. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly as member for Castlemaine in 1864, becoming minister for justice from 1866 until he resigned in October 1868.
Bindon was an important figure in organising the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition and an active trustee of the Public Library, Museum and National Gallery of Victoria. He was also a member of the Acclimatisation Society. His major achievement, however, was to found and chair Victoria’s Technological Commission in 1869, Australia’s first official organisation for technical education. He became founding chairman of the Industrial and Technological Museum Committee, publishing Industrial Instruction in Europe and Australia (Ballarat 1872).
In April 1869 Bindon was appointed judge of the County Court for Gippsland. Two months later the Colonial Monthly reported that 'to the cultivated taste of Judge Bindon, the colony is also indebted for some exquisite photographs of the wildflowers of Gippsland’. He died at St Kilda on 1 August 1879. The exhibition showing at the Ballarat Schools of Design closed for the day as a mark of respect.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
