Edward Henty (28 March 1810 – 14 August 1878),[1] was a pioneer British colonist and is regarded as the first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district (later known as the colony of Victoria), Australia.

[1] His father inherited £30,000 and bought the property generally called the Church Farm at West Tarring, and bred high value Merino sheep, some of which were purchased by capitalist entrepreneurs in the Australian colonies such as John Macarthur.

After an economic downturn hit England in the mid 1820s, Edward's eldest brother James Henty thought that better opportunities for the family existed in Australia.

The attitude of the government at Sydney to new settlers may be illustrated by an extract from a dispatch of the governor, Sir George Gipps, to Lord John Russell, dated 11 April 1840.

"The Messrs Henty, like the first settlers at Port Phillip, claim to have rendered good service to the government and to the colony of New South Wales by opening a district of country, which might otherwise have remained unoccupied for a number of years; but, so far from considering this any advantage, I look upon it as directly the reverse, not only because the dispersion of our population is increased by it, but because also we are forced prematurely to incur considerable expense in the formation of new establishments.

I have already, in consequence of the proceedings of the Messrs Henty, been obliged to send two expeditions to Portland Bay, and I am now under the necessity of organizing a police force there, and of laying out a town, besides incurring expense for the protection of the aborigines.

"[6] The thought that the many thousands of pounds spent by the Hentys in developing the country might eventually be of benefit to the state had apparently not entered into the minds of the authorities.

On 29 August 1836 the exploring party headed by Major Thomas Livingstone Mitchell reached Portland Bay and were amazed to find the country already colonised.