Robert Fitzgerald (Australian politician)


Robert George Dundas Fitzgerald was a New Zealand-born Australian politician.
He was born at Auckland to cotton planter Robert Appleyard Fitzgerald and Isabella Stevenson. The family moved to New South Wales in 1851 and Fitzgerald attended Sydney Grammar School and also a private school at Muswellbrook. He then became a solicitor's clerk in Maitland and was admitted a solicitor in 1869. In 1870 he married Elizabeth Frances Mary Batten, with whom he had a daughter. He established a partnership in Muswellbrook, and served as a local alderman and mayor. In 1885 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for Upper Hunter. Although associated with the Free Trade Party early in his career, by 1889 he was a Protectionist. In 1894 he was elected the member for the single-member seat of Robertson. In April 1901 he was appointed Minister for Justice in John See's ministry, but the post was abolished in July shortly after Fitzgerald retired from the Assembly. He was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in September and served until his death in 1933.

Honours

The Fitzgerald Bridge over the Hunter River in Aberdeen, a structure built in 1893 and listed on the Register of the National Estate, was opened by Fitzgerald and is believed to be named for him.