MURPHY, GEORGE READ (1856-1925), public servant, inventor and writer, was born on 17 May 1856 at Prahran, Melbourne, eldest son of Henry Morgan Murphy, merchant, and his wife Edith, née Read. His Dublin-born father was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council in 1864-73. After attending Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, Murphy was appointed to the Victorian Public Service as a clerk of courts on 5 January 1874, the youngest officer ever given charge of a court. His public service career extended over forty years and embraced a variety of duties in seventeen country and suburban localities. He was at times clerk of courts, coroner and police magistrate.

But Murphy's public service career, distinguished as it was, seemed to be merely a source of financial security which allowed him to pursue a busy intellectual life. From his youth he wrote verse and prose and letters to editors on ...

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Australian Dictionary of Biography