Robert Barbour (January 1827 – 4 August 1895) was an Australian politician, merchant and

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

Early life

Barbour was born

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and 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 ...

in 1851. He married Catherine Pitty in 1858 and they had 12 children. He owned

redgum Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals, Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were later joined by Hugh McDonald on fiddle and Ch ...

sawmills at

Echuca Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative centre and largest ...

Barmah Barmah is a town in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Barmah has the distinction of being located north of the border with the state of New South Wales. New South Wales is north of Victoria, with the border being the west ...

and Yeilima (near

Nathalia, Victoria Nathalia ( ) is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located within the Shire of Moira local government area on the banks of Broken Creek and on the Murray Valley Highway. At the 2021 census, Nathalia had a population of 1,982. ...

) until 1877 and several paddle steamers until around 1879. He was later involved in land speculation and became embroiled in expensive legal disputes with Henry Ricketson, ultimately losing before the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and ordered to pay Ricketson's costs, which all but ruined him financially.

Parliamentary career

He was the member for 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 ...

seat of

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

from 1877 to 1880 and from 1882 to 1894. He was a candidate at the 1874-75 election for Murray, endorsed by the local selectors' association but received 41.38% of the votes and was defeated by the sitting member William Hay who was supported by the

squatters Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

. Hay did not contest the 1877 election and Barbour was elected with 51.94% of the votes. Murray became a two-member electorate for the 1880 election however Barbour was defeated by Hay and Alexander Wilson. Barbour stood for the 1882 by-election for

Gundagai Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...

but received just 12.43% of the votes. Hay did not contest the 1882 election and Barbour was elected first with 31.19% of the votes while Wilson was re-elected. Barbour was re-elected at the 1885 election while Wilson was defeated by

John Chanter John Moore Chanter (11 February 1845 – 9 March 1931) was an Australian politician, farmer and commission agent. He was a member of the Protectionist Party, as well as the Australian Labor Party and the Nationalist Party of Australia. Ear ...

. Both Barbour and Chanter had joined the

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...

in 1887 and both were re-elected in 1887 election, were unopposed in 1889 election, and re-elected in 1891. He was involved in the formation of what would become the

Farmers and Settlers Association The Farmers' and Settlers' Association of New South Wales was an umbrella organisation of farmers' and selectors' associations in New South Wales, founded in 1893. History The Association was formed in 1893 as the outcome of a conference held in C ...

however he was expelled in 1894 for what were said to be underhanded transactions as a land agent. He did not stand for the 1894 election.

Death

Barbour died in the

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 ...

suburb of Summer Hill on and was survived by his wife, four sons and five daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbour, Robert Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1827 births 1895 deaths 19th-century Australian politicians Squatters