Robert Torrens Australia in the street of Torrens Terrace, in Wellington, New Zealand. Robert Torrens Sir Robert Richard Torrens, (1 July 1814 – 31 August 1884) was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and reformist. He was prominent in the early years of the Colony of South Australia, initially as a civil servant and then as a political officeholder. He was Colonial Treasurer from 1852 to 1857 and then Premier of South Australia for a single month in September 1857. Torrens is chiefly remembered as the originator of the Torrens title, a system of land registration. He secured its implementation in South Australia in
William McCullagh Torrens and Labourers Dwelling Bill" and carried the lodger franchise in the Reform Act 1867. He obtained a Select Committee on Extradition in 1869 and in 1874 brought in and carried the Building Societies Bill. Torrens published a number of works including Torrens died at the age of 80 after being knocked down by a hansom cab. Torrens married firstly Margaret Henrietta Gray daughter of John Gray of Claremorris, County Mayo in 1836. She died in 1873 and he married secondly Emily Harrison, daughter of William Harrison of Leamington in 1878. William McCullagh Torrens William Torrens McCullagh Torrens (13 October 1813