Patrick McGarry (1863 – 23 December 1930) was an Irish-born Australian politician.
He was born in
Killalbely in
County Meath to farmer Bernard McGarry and Mary Loughlin. In Ireland, where he worked as an alluvial miner, he was active in the
Land League. Around 1885 he went to the
United States, working in
Boston for four years during which he was active in the
Knights of Labor. In 1890 his arrival in
New South Wales coincided with the maritime strike, which he assisted. He tried his luck on the
Gundagai goldfields and spent time in the northern sugar district before returning to settle in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
around 1900. On 17 January 1900 he married Mary Myres, with whom he had three children. In 1904 he was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the
Labor member for
Murrumbidgee. A supporter of military
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
, he left the party in the 1916 split and won re-election in 1917 as a
Nationalist. In 1920, with the introduction of
proportional representation, he was denied preselection for the new multi-member Murrumbidgee and was defeated as an independent Nationalist. He is believed to have made some money as a land dealer after his defeat, but he died impoverished in
Hunters Hill in 1930.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarry, Patrick
1863 births
1930 deaths
Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales