Robert George McCutcheon (1841 – 20 October 1918) was an Irish-born Australian politician. He was born in

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

to John McCutcheon and Margaret Bothwell. His family migrated to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

around 1858; Robert spent a year in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

as a printer and then became a journalist in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

and Port Fiary. On 13 December 1867 he married Mary Ebblewhite, a prominent member of the

Australian Women's National League The Australian Women's National League (AWNL) was an Australian political lobby group federation first established in 1904. It acted in many ways like a political party, with an extensive branch network and the capability to run its own candidates ...

; they would have eight children. In 1873 he moved 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 ...

to assume his brother's place in the printing firm Mason, Firth & McCutcheon, which he owned exclusively from 1878. He was elected to 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 presiding ...

for St Kilda; a Liberal, he nonetheless opposed

Thomas Bent Sir Thomas Bent (7 December 1838 – 17 September 1909) was an Australian politician and the 22nd Premier of Victoria. Early life Bent was born in Penrith, New South Wales the eldest of four sons and two daughters of James Bent, a hotel-keeper ...

's government in 1908. He was a minister without portfolio from 1915 to 1916, when he resigned; he retired from politics in 1917. McCutcheon died in St Kilda in 1918.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCutcheon, Robert 1841 births 1918 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria People from the Colony of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People from Omagh Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Australian printers