Born in Hampstead, England and educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge (BA, 1833). Haines practiced surgery and married Mary Ann Dugard in 1835 before migrating to Victoria in 1841 where he purchased a property near Geelong. He divided the 2850 acre property into 49 farms and became the territorial magistrate, district trustee of the Port Phillip Savings Bank and member of the Grant District Council.

In 1851 he was a government nominee in the first Victorian Legislative Council, a position he resigned in 1852 in protest against the intended issue of leases to squatters. He was elected MLC for Grant in 1853. With Sir William Foster Stawell and others he drafted Victoria's Constitution. He became Colonial Secretary to Governor Hotham after J L V F Foster resigned. As chief official and most senior civil servant in the colony, he was accepted as the nominal leader of the first ministry. The opposition, under Nicholson were unable to form a government, so in January 1856 the acting-governor, Major-General Edward Macarthur recalled Haines, who was member for South Grant and appointed him Chief Secretary. Haines was defeated by O'Shanassy in March 1857, but won office again on 29th April 1857. He was defeated again in February 1858 and he resigned and left Victoria for North America and Europe. He returned to Victoria in October 1860, when he was elected MLA for Portland and acted as Treasurer in O'Shanassy's ministry.

In 1864 he lost his seat in Portland, but was elected MLC for Eastern Province. Stress of work was blamed for the carbuncle he developed, which killed him at his South Yarra home on 3rd February 1866. He was buried at St Kilda Cemetery.

Born in London and served an apprenticeship as a coach-builder before marrying Rhoda Parker in 1840. They migrated to Victoria in February 1842 as bounty emigrants on the Himalaya. Working initially as a day labourer, he established himself as a coach-builder in Collins Lane by 1847 and then Lonsdale Street. He was a fervent believer in temperance and became secretary of the Total Abstinence Society, of which his father (Richard Heales 1891-1882) was president.

He was elected councilor for Gipps Ward on Melbourne City Council in November 1850, beating John O'Shanassy. In 1852 he sailed for England, where for three years he worked for temperance. He returned to Victoria and in 1857 was elected MLA for East Bourke Borough. When the Nicholson ministry resigned in August 1860, Heales and C G Duffy combined to support the Land Bill and Governor Barkly asked Heales to form a ministry. Heales refused and Nicholson resumed office but was defeated in November 1860 and after much factional fighting, Heales became Chief Secretary. Reliant upon the support of O'Shanassy and C H Ebden, Heales received little support from them and was defeated in a vote of no-confidence in June 1861. Heales persuaded Governor Barkly to grant a dissolution and was returned to office. However, by November 1861 he was defeated by O'Shanassy.

In the McCulloch ministry of 1863, Heales was Minister for Lands. In April 1864 he was granted leave from Parliament due to ill-health and on 19th June 1864, aged 42, he died of tuberculosis at his Elsternwick home. He was survived by his wife, six sons and two daughters. Healesville was later named after him. He was one of the first of Victoria's public men to die in office and a large crowd gathered to watch his funeral procession from the Alma Road Congegational Church to Melbourne General Cemetery.

Born at Ballinahow, near Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland. His education was stopped when his father died in 1831 and he became an apprentice to a Tipperary draper and wine merchant. In 1839 he married Margaret McDonnell. He decided to migrate to Sydney and left Plymouth aboard the William Metcalf, but on arrival at Hobson's Bay were convinced by the Reverend Patrick Geoghegan to stay in Melbourne. O'Shanassy bought a small property, Windriet, near Western Port, but drought and a lack of capital soon forced him to return to Melbourne where, in 1845, he opened a drapers shop on Collins Street.

O'Shanassy was elected to the Melbourne Council in 1846. This was a short lived position, but he entered politics again when he was appointed to the first Legislative Council in 1851. He successfully stood for the seats of Melbourne and Kilmore in the September 1856 election and chose to be MLA for Kilmore. O'Shanassy sat in opposition to Haines and became Chief Secretary on 11th March 1857. He formed his ministry with difficulty and when three of his members lost their seats he lost power to Heales on 24th April 1857. O'Shanassy was in opposition for a year before returning to power onthe 10th March 1858.

After the resignation of the Minister for Lands, Duffy, on a disagreement over the sale of pastoral land and licences, O'Shanassy lost a vote of no-confidence and resigned on 27th October 1859. O'Shanassy was in opposition through the Nicholson and the Heales ministries. When Heales was defeated over the budget on the 14th November 1861, O'Shanassy returned to power for a third time, making his strongest ministry yet. Haines became Treasurer and Duffy, Minister for Lands. After his ministry was defeated by twelve votes in the assembly over revenue estimates from pastoral runs, O'Shanassy resigned on 27th June 1863. The new McCulloch ministry had a majority of 53 to O'Shanassy's 14 and he decided not to contest the 1866 election. He went traveling overseas aboard the Great Britain, including a trip to his birthplace in Ireland. On his return he was elected MLC for the Central Province and he remained in politics untill his death on the 5th May 1883.