George L. Barrow

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

George Liversage Barrow (May 1851 – 11 August 1925) was an Australian journalist known for his strong opinions and independence.

He was born in Bradford, England, and moved to Australia with his parents, John Henry Barrow and Sarah Barrow (née Liversedge), and his siblings in September 1853. He studied at J. L. Young's Adelaide Educational Institution, then worked on government survey teams before starting in journalism.

Around 1882 he became sub-editor of the Port Adelaide News, working with John Deslandes, James Haddy, Rev. J. C. Kirby, and A. T. Saunders. Barrow was a protectionist who admired Graham Berry and wrote forcefully against government scandals.

After some conflicts at the Port Adelaide News, he left and started his own paper, which soon merged with Charles McMullen's South Australian Times, where Barrow served as editor. He was convicted of criminal libel for a July 11, 1885 comment accusing Samuel Tomkinson of corruption over a planned railway between Port Augusta and Phillip Ponds near Woomera. He spent several months in Adelaide Gaol, and the railway project never went ahead.

Upon his release, he moved to Oakleigh, Victoria, where his brother John T. Barrow was in business. During Melbourne’s land boom he worked as a land agent and then started The Oakleigh and Fern Tree Gully Times, championing local interests.

In 1891 he returned to Adelaide and The News. About 1894 he moved to Western Australia for a few years. From around 1908 he lived in Fiji, where he was active politically and often criticized the government, especially its treatment of indigenous people. He published several pamphlets about these issues and, in 1923, ran for election to Fiji’s Legislative Council.

In his later years he lived alone in a remote part of Fiji, not far from his niece’s home, and died on 11 August 1925 in Nadroga or Nausori. The Chronicle praised him as a well-read and capable man, a clever and clear writer who stood by his beliefs. Though his uncompromising views sometimes made it hard to work with him, friends admired his independence and his selfless desire to help others.