William Wyatt

William Wyatt (* 1804 in Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom, † June 10, 1886 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia) was a surgeon, landowners, officials and Protector of Aborigines.

At the age of 16, he was trained as surgeons and received a license for the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries in London and to the surgeon in a large hospital pharmacy. In 1828 he was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons and opened a private practice in Plymouth. In Plymouth, he was curator of the Museum of the Literary and Scientific Institution, studied zoology and other sciences that have references to Medizinwissenschft.

In 1836 he applied unsuccessfully for a job in Australia. Nevertheless, he immigrated with his wife in February 1837 to Adelaide, where he acquired land. Later he also bought more land around Port Lincoln. As a surgeon, he did not practice, although he claimed that he performed the first amputation of a leg in this area. He was in 1837 appointed Protector of Aborigines, further to the urban and colonial forensic pathologist. A year later, justice of the peace, member of a local school society and founded the South Australian club. As Protector, he could do little for the Aborigines, because this office had little authority and little power. For his dedication to the interests of the Aborigines, he was often reprimanded, finally, he resigned from this office in 1839 back in resignation.

As developed strong demand from the country, he earned his income from land sales. In the depression of the 1840s Wyatt acted on with land ownership and in 1844 a member of the Medical Board, whose secretary he was, until his death.

He is committed to the Trinity Church, Collegiate School of St Peter and for immigrants and became director of the Colonial Railway Co.. In the 1850s, he took a leading part in the establishment of social and societies institutions such as the South Australian Institute, acclimatization Society, Botanic Gardens, the Royal Society and Society of Arts in part. In 1851 he was appointed the first inspector of schools in South Australia.

Wyatt published in 1883 a monograph on Certain Crustacea Entomostraca 1879 and Some account of the manners and superstitions of the Adelaide and Encounter Bay Aboriginal tribes. In: JD Woods et al: Native Tribes of South Australia. William Wyatt died in 1886 in Adelaide.