John O'Shanassy
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Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG (1818–5 May 1883), Australian colonial politician, was the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Port Phillip District (later Victoria) in 1839. He went into business in Melbourne as a draper, and by 1846 he was rich enough to be elected to the Melbourne City Council and to become the founding chairman of the Colonial Bank of Australasia. By the 1850s he was a major landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the colony. He also became a recognised leader of the large Irish Catholic community.
O'Shanassy was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Melbourne Province in 1851. When Victoria gained responsible government in 1856, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Kilmore. In 1868 he returned to the Council as member for Central Province, then in 1877 he went back to the Assembly as member for Belfast (now Port Fairy, which he represented until 1883.
Although he had been regarded as a liberal in his early career, in the colonial Parliament O'Shanassy emerged as the leader of the conservative opposition to the reforming ministry of William Haines, although there was no formal party system in Victoria at this time. His alienation from the liberals was mainly as a result of the tariff issue: most colonial liberals were protectionists, but O'Shanassy was a free trader.
When Haines's ministry fell in March 1857, O'Shanassy succeeded him as Premier, but his government fell in April and Haines returned to office. O'Shanassy was Premier again from March 1858 to October 1859, and again from November 1861. By the 1860s O'Shanassy had become a thorough-going conservative and his government was bitterly opposed by the liberal newspaper The Age and its fiery proprietor, David Syme. In retaliation O'Shanassy withdrew government advertising from the paper. O'Shanassy's government was finally defeated in June 1863 over the land reform issue, and he never held office again.
O'Shanassy was awarded a papal knighthood in 1861, was made a CMG in 1869 and a KCMG in 1874. He retired from Parliament in February 1883, shortly before his death.
[edit] References
- Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
- Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
- Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
- Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992
- Serle, Percival (1949). “O'Shanassay, John”, Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
| Preceded by: William Haines |
Premier of Victoria 1857 |
Succeeded by: William Haines |
| Preceded by: William Haines |
Premier of Victoria 1858–1859 |
Succeeded by: William Nicholson |
| Preceded by: Richard Heales |
Premier of Victoria 1861–1863 |
Succeeded by: James McCulloch |
| Premiers of Victoria |  |
|---|---|
| Haines | O'Shanassy | Nicholson | Heales | McCulloch | Sladen | MacPherson | Duffy | Francis | Kerferd | Berry | Service | O'Loghlen | Gillies | Munro | Shiels | Patterson | Turner | McLean | Peacock | Irvine | Bent | Murray | Watt | Elmslie | Bowser | Lawson | Prendergast | Allan | Hogan | McPherson | Argyle | Dunstan | Cain Sr | MacFarlan | Hollway | McDonald | Bolte | Hamer | Thompson | Cain Jr | Kirner | Kennett | Bracks | |
