Joseph Innes

[3] Having returned to Australia, Innes was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1862, and practised till 1865, when he was appointed a district judge in Queensland.

He also went into politics, and was returned to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Mudgee on 7 March 1872,[4] in May of which year he became Solicitor General in the first Parkes ministry.

[4] In November he was appointed Attorney General in succession to Edward Butler, without a seat in Cabinet,[5] holding office until the break-up of the Parkes Ministry in February 1875.

In the previous year he had accompanied Sir Hercules Robinson, the then Governor of New South Wales, on his special mission to Fiji, in connection with the annexation of the island to the British Crown, and was knighted in January 1875 in recognition of his legal services on that occasion.

[3] Sir George acted as Chairman of Committees in the Legislative Council till August 1880, when he succeeded Francis Suttor as Minister of Justice in the third Parkes ministry, resigning from the ministry and the Legislative Council in October 1881, on being appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.