Michael O'Grady (16 October 1824 – 5 January 1876) K.S.G., M.L.A., was and Irish-born politician in Australia, member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

Background

O'Grady was born in

Frenchpark Frenchpark, historically known as Dungar (), is a village in County Roscommon, Ireland on the N5 national primary road. It was the home of Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland. The nearby French Park Estate was until 1952 the ancestr ...

, County Roscommon, Ireland, and went to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

as a boy to push his fortune. In 1855 he was sent out to Sydney to establish a branch of the "People's Provident Society." The next year he removed to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and was connected with insurance business.

Politics

In 1861 O'Grady entered the Lower House of the Victorian Parliament as member for South Bourke, and was Vice-president Board Land & Works and Commissioner Public Works from 6 May 1868 to 11 July 1868 in the Charles Sladen Ministry. In November 1870 O'Grady was elected as member for Villiers and Heytesbury, a position he held until his death. He again held the Commissioner of Public Works post, in the Charles Gavan Duffy Ministry from 19 June 1871 to 10 June 1872. O'Grady, who was created a Knight of St. Gregory by the Pope in 1871, was a member of the Hawthorn Municipal Council from 1860 to 1861 and mayor 1870 to 1871. He died at his home in Hawthorn, Melbourne from a liver complaint on 5 January 1876.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogrady, Michael 1824 births 1876 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Politicians from County Roscommon 19th-century Australian politicians Ministers for Public Works (Victoria) People from Frenchpark