Stawell was born on 27 June 1815 at Old Court, County Cork, Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and read law at King's Inns, Dublin and Lincoln's Inn, London. In 1839 he became a practising lawyer in England and Ireland.

In July 1842 he sailed for Melbourne on the Sarah, a boat chartered by his distant relative, Lieutenant Pomeroy Greene. They arrived in December 1842. On board were two stud bulls Stawell had brought with him. At first he was involved briefly in squatting with his cousin, JLFV Foster, on the property known as Rathescar which Stawell held until 1853. Within a few months he was back in Melbourne where he practised law.

Stawell became interested in local politics and was soon advocating that Port Phillip District (Victoria) should be separated from New South Wales. In 1850 he helped to form the Anti-Transportation League. In 1851 separation occurred and Stawell was nominated to the first Legislative Council by Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe. He became Attorney-General. His salary was now 500 pounds and he gave up his private law practice to concentrate on his work in government.

Amongst his achievements at this time, Stawell did much of the work that set up the public service and the administration of the Victorian government. As a result of a report by Stawell, the Supreme Court, County Court, Court of General Sessions and Insolvency (Bankruptcy) Court were established.

He also worked with Foster to draft the Constitution Bill giving Victoria responsible government. They wanted parliament to have an upper and a lower house. While he realised a House of Lords would not be accepted in Victoria, he proposed an upper house elected by property owners, university graduates, lawyers, doctors, clergymen and naval and army officers.

In January 1856 he married Mary Greene.

Stawell was invited to stand for the lower house in the new (responsible) government. At this time, he bought a large property on the Yarra at Kew. He built a large bluestone family house, D'Estaville there. He enjoyed the life of a country gentleman growing vegetables, establishing an orchard, vineyard, stables and a dairy. The elections were held in 1856.

Stawell was to continue his parliamentary career making important contributions in the first years of responsible government here in Victoria.

• Democracy
• Government
• Representative government
• Responsible government
• Self-government
• Structure of responsible government
• Towards responsible government
• The Constitution
• Lucy Bell
• Thomas Henty
• William Barak
• Elias Andrews
• John Chandler
• Frederick Thomas Sargood
• William Foster Stawell
• Acts of Parliament about Voting and becoming an MP
• Voting systems
• Acts relating to land use and care
• Consolidation Acts
• Land Acts in Victoria
• The Chaffey Agreement