The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Younghusband, William
Younghusband, William, was one of the promoters of the Murray River Steam Navigation Company, which enabled Captain Cadell in 1853 to win the £4000 bonus offered by the Government of South Australia for the initiation of steam communication on the Murray. Having represented Stanley in the mixed Legislative Council for five years prior to the inauguration of responsible government in 1856, he was elected to the new Legislative Council, and was Chief Secretary in the Hanson Government from Sept. 1857 to May 1860. This being the first stable administration formed subsequent to the disappearance of the old officials from public life, it fell to Mr. Younghusband to organise the various Government departments inaugurated under the new régime. This he did with consummate ability, and for many years the public business of the colony was transacted on the lines he laid down. Mr. Younghusband was a director of the Bank of Australasia, and retired from the Legislative Council by rotation in Feb. 1861. He died at Rome in May 1863.