Francis Arthur "Old Frank" Byrne (1837 – 30 June 1923) was Member of 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 House ...

for the electoral district of Hay 1898–1903.

Early life

He was born in

Singleton, New South Wales Singleton is a town on the banks of the Hunter River (New South Wales), Hunter River in New South Wales, Australia. Singleton is 202km (126 mi) north-north-west of Sydney, and 70 km (43 mi) north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales ...

to Peter Byrne, a miner, and Sarah , and had a very limited education. He married Elizabeth Susan Grace in 1865 and subsequently Sarah Ann Tate ( – 1 May 1908). He had three sons and three daughters.

Career

He was engaged in the coach business with Cobb and Co., for some time at Castlemaine before settling in the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

district around 1870, working mostly at

Balranald Balranald is a town within the Local government in Australia, local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Murray (New South Wales), Murray region of far south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town of Balranald is located where the ...

Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th c ...

and

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

. He was interested in current affairs, read newspapers voraciously, and with his genial manner, excellent memory and huge fund of anecdotes was popular with a broad range of the travelling public.

Politics

He was mayor of Hay for two three-year terms, from 1894, and active in the Hospital committee. He became involved in the campaign for

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

. He stood as a

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

candidate at the 1898 election for the Legislative Assembly for

and was elected. He was a good local member and achieved several advantages, including the Darlington Point bridge, for his district. He was re-elected unopposed 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

at the 1901 election, but suffered from ill health and did not contest the 1904 election. With health improving, he attempted to re-enter parliament for the seat of Murray in 1907, but was unsuccessful, and retired to the Sydney suburb of Newtown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Frank 1923 deaths Colony of New South Wales people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1837 births People from Singleton, New South Wales