Robert Patten (18 January 1859 – 17 September 1940) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1908 to 1910 and a

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fus ...

member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

for the electorate of Hume from 1913 to 1917. Born in Brixton,

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 ...

, Patten migrated to Australia while a teenager. He became a teacher from 1883 in a succession of rural New South Wales schools, first at Ournie temporarily, then at

Menindee Menindee (frequently but erroneously spelled "Menindie" ) is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980 and a population of 551. ...

, then headmaster at

Wallaroo Wallaroo is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug ''walaru'', and not a portmanteau of the words "kangaroo" and "wal ...

from 1885 to 1891, and finally at Bolwarra (near

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

) from 1891 to 1897. He then became a farmer at Comobella (near

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

. He joined the Farmers and Settlers Association in 1902 and rose through its ranks from Comobella branch chairman, to its executive council in 1904, and then serving as its president from 1908 to 1913. He also served as president of the

Cobbora Shire Cobbora Shire was a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. Cobbora Shire was proclaimed (as Cobborah Shire) on 7 March 1906, one of 134 shires created after the passing of the ''Local Government (Shires) Act 19 ...

in 1908. Patten was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council by the Wade government in 1908. He resigned from the Legislative Council in 1910 in an unsuccessful attempt to contest the 1910 federal election in the seat of Gwydir, which was followed by an unsuccessful candidacy for

Liverpool Plains The Liverpool Plains are an extensive agricultural area covering about of the north-western slopes of New South Wales in Australia. These plains are a region of prime agricultural land bounded to the east by the Great Dividing Range, to the so ...

at the 1910 state election. In 1913, he was elected to the

as a member of the

, defeating former

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

William Lyne Sir William John Lyne KCMG (6 April 1844 – 3 August 1913) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1899 to 1901, and later as a federal cabinet minister under Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. He is best kno ...

, running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, for the seat of Hume. Though initially seen as being largely a candidate elected in the "country interests" alongside his Liberal endorsement, he was harshly criticised by ''The Farmer and Settler'' newspaper towards the end of his association term for being too closely aligned with Liberal instead of country interests. He held the seat until he retired in 1917. In May 1917, he was appointed as a manager by the Commonwealth Government to the London staff of the Australian Munitions and War Workers. He relocated 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 ...

1928 and lived at

Barwon Heads Barwon Heads (previously known as Point Flinders) is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the west bank of the mouth of the Barwon River below Lake Connewarre, while it is bounded t ...

from 1932. He died at Geelong in 1940 and was buried at Geelong's Eastern Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Robert Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hume Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 1859 births 1935 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians British emigrants to colonial Australia