John Killeen Handy was a politician in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. He was a Member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

. He represented the electorate of Mitchell from June 1870 until September 1871. Then the

electoral district of North Brisbane North Brisbane was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian colony of Queensland from 1878 to 1888. North Brisbane was a two-member constituency, created in 1878 by a merger of Brisbane City with one member and ...

from Jan 1872 to Nov 1873.

Early life

Born in Ireland in 1834, he then studied at Meath National school before performed tonsure and minor orders in Paris in 1855. After being ordained as a Roman Catholic priest on 28 March 1857, Handy travelled to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He became the pastor at Placerville on 25 July 1859. He then became the pastor at

Yreka Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...

, Crescent City. On 19 January 1861 Handy became the assistant pastor at St Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco. After this time his health began to fail so on 5 November 1861 he left San Francisco for Sydney on the Nimrod. On 1 February 1862 Handy was commissioned in the Diocese of Sydney. He was then appointed the priest of Patrick Plains, Tamworth. In January 1863 he left the church after a dispute and was subsequently excommunicated.

Career in law and politics

Handy qualified as a lawyer through the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

from 1863 to 1865. He arrived in Queensland in 1865 and was appointed the Crown Prosecutor. He also undertook work in private practice. Handy was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

until shortly before his death on 24 January 1874 at the age of 40.

Family life

John Killeen Handy married Isabella Agnes Carse Kendall on 12 February 1863 in Sydney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handy, John Killeen Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1834 births 1874 deaths People from Queensland 19th-century Australian politicians Irish emigrants to colonial Australia