Alured Tasker Faunce

Alured Tasker Faunce was a soldier and police magistrate. He was the eldest son of Major-General Alured Dodsworth Faunce of Clifton, near Bristol, England, and Anna Maria Goddard. His Grandfather, Major Thomas Faunce, fought in Quebec and became the town major during the occupation.

At 16 Alured joined the army as an Ensign in the 4th Regiment, the same as his father and grandfather. Accompanied by his brother Lieutenant Thomas Faunce, he arrived in Sydney with the headquarters of the regiment in the Clyde in August 1832. While senior captain and adjutant of the regiment he retired from the army in 1836 to become the police magistrate at Brisbane Water.

On 27 January 1835 at Liverpool he married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel J K Mackenzie, 4th Regiment who had settled in Braidwood. Together they had six sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Rev Cannon Alured Dodsworth Faunce was in the diocese of Goulburn for 40 years.

Alured and Elizabeth arrived in Queanbeyan in November 1837, having purchased 810 acres near the town and 1012 acres at Windellama. He held his first sitting of the Queanbeyan, Molonglo, Gundaroo and Monaro bench on 23 Feb 1838. He became a popular and respected figure in the growing community of the Limestone plains. While playing in a match with the Queanbeyan and Ginninderra cricket clubs on 26th April 1856 he suddenly died.

Photo courtesy of the Queanbeyan Museum