Edward Nucella Emmett (18 February 1817 – 18 March 1874[2]) was an English born Australian entrepreneur and politician, and briefly a member of the Victorian Legislative Council.

With funding from wealthy investors in Melbourne he formed the company which was incorporated by parliament.

Joseph Brady was the first engineer for the project, which made use of water from the Coliban River.

He had two families in South Australia, abandoning his common law wife, Sarah Ann Dolby, and their three children before the end of 1856.

After his death, his widow and their only surviving daughter, Bertha, returned to Bendigo, where in 1876 it became known that they were in straitened circumstance with a number of gifts made to them.