Sir Redmond Barry KCMG QC (7 June 1813 – 23 November 1880), was an Irish-born judge in the Australian colony of Victoria.
[7] After two years in Sydney, Barry moved to Melbourne, a city with which he was ever afterwards closely identified, arriving at the new Port Phillip Settlement on 13 November 1839.
Barry questioned the legal basis of British authority over Aborigines who were not citizens and claimed that the evidence was dubious and circumstantial.
Barry was noted for his service to the community, and he convinced the state government to spend money on public works, particularly on education.
[10] In 1857, Barry conducted the inquest into the murder of Inspector-General John Giles Price, who was beaten to death by a group of at least 15 convicts during an inspection of the prison quarries in Williamstown, Victoria.
[6] In October 1878, at Beechworth court, Barry presided over a case in which Mrs Ellen Kelly (King) and two men were accused of aiding and abetting the attempted murder of a Victoria Police constable named Alexander Fitzpatrick.
[citation needed] In 1880, Barry presided at the final trial of Ned Kelly, who was tried and convicted of murdering three other Victoria Police constables.
On 23 November 1880, only twelve days after Kelly's execution, Barry died from what the doctors described as "congestion of the lungs and a carbuncle in the neck".
In 1862 and 1877–1878, he went to Europe, England and America, purchasing books and pictures for University, Law and Public Libraries and Art Gallery.
In September 1870, he "acquired" Marcus Clarke as Public Library Trustees clerk (later secretary), who until his death in 1881 worked as sub-librarian.
[15] The Argus reported that Barry had been suffering from diabetes for about ten years, but on his return from his trip to Europe and America it was apparent that the disease had affected his system.
He was constantly attended by Dr Gunst, who, however, could scarcely impress his patient with a sense of the very serious nature of his disease, which he regarded somewhat lightly.
The left lung had become greatly congested, and this, together with the exhaustion and wasting away of the system resulting from the previous disease, proved fatal.