Lewis Adolphus Bernays (3 May 1831 – 22 August 1908) C.M.G., F.L.S., F.R.G.S, was a public servant, the first Clerk of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, and an agricultural writer in Queensland, Australia.
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Early life
Bernays was born in London. He was the son of the professor Adolphus Bernays and his wife Martha, née Arrowsmith. He attended King's College and then moved to New Zealand.
In 1851 he married Mary Anne Eliza, daughter of William Borton.
Australia
Bernays went to Sydney in 1852 and began working at the New South Wales Parliament. In 1859 Sir George Bowen, the governor of Queensland had requested a clerk for the new Legislative Assembly of Queensland. Bernays became the Clerk of Parliament in 1860, a position that he held for over 47 years.
He published writing on agricultural economics, including The Olive and its Products in 1872 and Cultural Industries for Queensland; Papers on the Cultivation of Useful Plants Suited to the Climate of Queensland in 1883.
His son Charles Arrowsmith Bernays wrote about his father: 'On his death he was fittingly described by J. T. Bell as being of the best and rarest type of public servant'.
Affiliations
Bernays was on the committee of the Johnsonian Club in 1880, its second year of existence.
He founded the Queensland Acclimatisation Society, holding positions of Councillor, Honorary Secretary, Vice-President, President and vice-patron for many years.
Bernays was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London., and a member of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Queensland Branch).
Later life
Bernays died of heart failure on 22 August 1908 following a short illness and was survived by five sons and four daughters. Bernays is buried in Toowong Cemetery.
Legacy
In 1909, a bust of Bernays was commissioned from sculptor James Laurence Watts for the Queensland Parliament House.