Michael Patrick Durack, (22 July 1865 – 3 September 1950) was a pastoralist and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n pioneer, known as "M.P." or to the family as "Miguel". He was the son of

Patrick Durack Patrick Durack (March 1834 – 20 January 1898) was a pastoral pioneer in Western Australia. His family were struggling tenant farmers from Magherareagh near Scarriff in County Clare, Ireland, who moved from Ireland to New South Wales in 1853. ...

and Mary Costello, both Irish-Australians.

Life and career

Durack was educated at

St Patrick's College, Goulburn (If you do something, do it well) , status = Closed , established = , closed = 2000 (merged into Trinity Catholic College, Goulburn) , city = Goulburn , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , campus = , coor ...

along with his brother, John Wallace. In 1881 he bought 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_ ...

and established the Archerfield pastoral run. In 1882–83, his family went on an expedition to the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of Western Australia. On his 21st birthday, he made the first sale of Kimberley cattle to a

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

butcher for £1,200 in raw gold. In 1894, a new shipping trade was established by

Francis Connor Francis Connor (1857 – 24 August 1916) was an Australian businessman, pastoralist, and politician who served in both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia, as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1893 to 1905 and as a member of ...

and

Denis Doherty Denis Joseph Doherty (1861 – 23 October 1935) was an Australian businessman, pastoralist and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1897 to 1903, representing the seat of North Fremantle. D ...

from Wyndham to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The Durack family became one of the main suppliers in this market, and eventually merged with their shipping agents to form Connor, Doherty & Durack Ltd, which controlled nearly of property on the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

border. His firm was a major influence on the Kimberley pastoral industry for the next fifty years. He negotiated a shipment of 3,612 cattle to

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

in 1902, which was long hailed a record overseas consignment of live cattle. In 1917, he entered the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

as the Nationalist Party member for the Kimberley. He became discontented with the

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

government, and in 1920 joined the Country Party, subsequently retiring from politics in 1924. In 1921 M.P. Durack assisted the scientific party which had arrived at

Wyndham, Western Australia Wyndham is the northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1886 to service a new goldfield at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for ...

, for determinations of the north

Western Australia border The land border of the state of Western Australia (WA) bisects mainland Australia, nominally along 129th meridian east longitude (129° East). That land border divides WA from the Northern Territory (NT) and South Australia (SA). However, for v ...

between

and the

. Circa 1939, the Connor, Doherty & Durack tract became the subject of the

Kimberley Plan The Kimberley Plan, was a failed plan by the Freeland League to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe in northern Australia before and during the Holocaust. With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Coloniza ...

to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe. The proposal was vetoed by the Australian government in 1944. He died on 3 September 1950 and was buried in

Karrakatta Cemetery Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Ce ...

Notable family members

Jerry Galway

Jerry "Galway" Durack was the youngest son of Michael and Mary and the first to be born in Australia, when the family were still in Queensland. Jerry married Francis Neale, of New South Wales, in 1880. In 1901, Galway Jerry was killed on his station while most of the family were in Perth. The incident, in which Jerry and Francis's eldest son Patrick was also wounded, and the subsequent chase, capture and trial, made waves across Australia. It was the subject of more than one hundred newspaper articles spread across every corner of the country. Despite this, Francis returned to the station and continued rearing the rest of the family, until it was sold in 1913.

John "J.P." "Roaring Jack" "Black Jack" Durack

John Peter William Durack founded the Perth

Law Firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

Dwyer Durack in 1915 and was born to Jerry "Galway" Durack and Francis Neale in 1888. After John's birth in Ipswich, Queensland, the family relocated to the Kimberly region of Western Australia in 1889. Francis, described as an intellectual woman, insisted her children received a good education and as a result John and his brother Neal traveled from the Kimberley to Perth to attend the Christian Brothers College until 1907 where he excelled in boxing demonstrations and reciting poetry and Shakespeare, as well as receiving the elocution prize from JS Battye. In cricket, he was an all-rounder. After being articled to one ML Moss KC, JP Durack was admitted to the bar in August 1913, and took up practice on Howard Street. At this time he started using the name "John Peter", as Peter had been his nickname in college, to distinguish himself from his cousin, the identically initialled John Wallace Durack, who also had his office on Howard Street, which meant a lot of misdirected mail, and constant meet-ups to amend this. The name stuck, and he was known as John Peter, or JP forever more, although it seems he was still referred to John William on the odd formal occasion. In 1917, JP took leave of his practice to enlist as a serviceman during World War 1. He served with the 10th Light Horse Brigade in Egypt, Palestine and Syria and by World War 2, he had the rank of Major in the Army Legal Corps. JP married Pleasance Rowe in April 1922 and lived at "Strathmore" at 18 Chester Street, Subiaco, which was built in 1904 for Walter David Cookes, founder of the Ezywalkin Boot and Shoe Company. Together they had one son, Peter, in 1928. A hobby for JP was hunting, serving as President of the Hunt Club of Western Australia and he and Peter kept horses to ride through Kings Park. In a long and distinguished legal career, JP Durack took on all kinds of cases with all kinds of people. He represented farmers, tradesmen and unionists, workers, lumpers, bar staff, beleaguered husbands and wives, politicians, store owners and recent migrants. He was involved in divorce, licensing, probate, criminal, litigation and commercial cases. He was appointed a Kings Counsel in June 1939, at the age of fifty. He was also President of the Law Society of Western Australia from 1943 to 1945. Some of the most intriguing cases he was involved in come from the 1950s, including one which went to the Privy Council in London. JP Durack continued practising law at Dwyer Durack until the 1970s, when he was well into his eighties. He died in 1978.

References

External links