Robert Emmet O'Halloran (6 June 1888 – 1 December 1974) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party Member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

spanning 27 years, representing

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

between 1920 and 1927 and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

between 1941 and 1947.

Early years

O'Halloran was born in Euchareena, New South Wales to Rose and Michael Conlon O'Halloran, a newspaper proprietor, who was involved in the early history of the Labor Party. He was educated at Christian Brothers' College, Waverley,

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

; and studied law at

The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

from 1908–1909. He entered the New South Wales public service; eventually rising to become head of the Deceased Soldiers' Estate Department, Public Trustee's office on election to Parliament. He was a director of

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School ...

in 1931, Dental Hospital; president of Government employees' section clerks' Union; trustee of

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

New South Wales state political career

In the 1927 split that divided the Labor Party, O'Halloran (Caucus Secretary at the time), sided with the McKell faction against

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Jack Lang. O'Halloran subsequently lost endorsement for this move and was not pre-selected for the newly formed seats of Bondi, Coogee, Randwick,

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

and

Woollahra Woollahra is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located 5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Woollahra. W ...

. He remained on the outer until Lang's power waned. McKell, President of the

Sydney Cricket Ground Trust The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust (popularly known as the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust or SCG Trust) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales that operated the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, New S ...

, kept O'Halloran in his fold by appointing him as a fellow Trustee. In 1944, it was reported that O'Halloran, a resident of Chandos Street in Ashfield, was fined £10 in the Central Police Court of Sydney for having driven a motor car while under the influence of liquor. In his defence, O'Halloran claimed he was under severe mental stress at the time, because of family bereavements. He admitted that his condition might have been aggravated by his distraught state. O'Halloran, who pleaded guilty, submitted that there were extenuating circumstances. O'Halloran's younger sister had been buried that day and a few weeks earlier he had lost his eldest daughter. His son had contracted meningitis whilst returning from New Guinea. He submitted that loss of his driver's licence would be a great hardship because he used his car as an agent and as a Member of Parliament. The Magistrate, in fining O'Halloran, said he was not prepared to extend the benefit of hardship, meaning that the licence is automatically cancelled for twelve months. O'Halloran died at Glenbrook, survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohalloran, Robert Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1888 births 1974 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians