Jacob John Halley

He was the first minister to be appointed to the district of the Lower Darling and Murrumbidgee and completed over 50 years in the public ministry in various locations around Victoria.

After spending his early years in London, his father accepted a commission to Mosley Street Chapel, Manchester.

[2][1] Halley did not graduate from university, but in 1859 he was invited to join the minister at Newtown Congregational Church to assist with preaching and mission services.

At this time, Halley also became secretary of the Congregational Union of Victoria, a position he would hold until 1908 before serving two terms as chairman from 1907 to 1909.

[5] He got his love of ornithology from his wife's brother, Price, who worked on the station where his mission was located while he was assigned to the Lower Darling and Murrumbidgee region, where the two men would go on bird hunting expeditions with Indigenous locals.

The monograph was intended to be a multi-part study, however only one part, including three plates, were published due to financial constraints owing to a lack of subscribers.

[6] The three chromolithographed plates are made after original watercolours by James Whitley Sayer,[6] and one is attributed to have been put 'on stone' by Richard Laishley, who was a minister in the Congregational Church and a gifted artist.

The funeral took place on Friday 21 January at the Congregational Church, Camberwell, and he is buried at Boroondara General Cemetery in Kew.