Owen Gilbert (1868 – 13 November 1934) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Reform 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 ...

from 1901 to 1910, representing the electorates of

Newcastle West Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicized Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, It is also the county town, and sits on the ...

(1901-1904) and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

(1904-1910). Owen was born in

Raymond Terrace Raymond Terrace is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle on the Pacific Highway. Established in 1837 it is situated at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams rivers. The town was nam ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and spent early years in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

. He became a schoolteacher in 1885, with his first posting at Minmi, and taught for sixteen years in various New South Wales towns, including

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

and

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

, before finishing his teaching career at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. He was also involved in the Newcastle community, serving as secretary of the Newcastle Show. A one-time member of his local Labor League in the early 1890s, Gilbert was a committed free-trader by the time of

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

, and resigned from his teaching post in 1901 to contest the inaugural 1901 federal election as a Free Trade Party candidate in the seat of

; however, he was soundly defeated. Following his federal loss, Gilbert contested and won the

seat of

for the Liberal Reform Party at the 1901 state election three months later. He was re-elected for

in 1904 after an electoral redistribution and again for that seat in 1907. As local MP, was reported to have been influential in the establishment of the

Stockton ferry service The Stockton ferry service is a ferry service in Newcastle, New South Wales. Operated by Newcastle Transport under contract to Transport for NSW, it crosses the Hunter River from the Newcastle CBD at Queens Wharf to Stockton. History Prior to ...

. He was defeated by a Labor candidate at the 1910 state election. He unsuccessfully contested

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council local government area as well as being th ...

at the 1913 state election, and continued to campaign for conservative candidates into the 1920s. In 1914, after a stint as a paid organiser for the Liberal Reform Party, he was appointed as secretary to the State Quarries by the state Labor government and relocated to Sydney. He worked for the State Quarries for many years thereafter. At the time of his death in 1934, he was residing in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

. Having reportedly had a history of heart problems, he collapsed on

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

and died in the Sydney Hospital.

Notes

Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1868 births 1934 deaths Port Stephens Council People from the Hunter Region Colony of New South Wales people {{Australia-politician-stub