Alexander McDonald (1845 - 26 May 1920) was an Australian politician. He was a liberal member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

from 1902 to 1904, representing the electorate of Footscray. McDonald was born in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and migrated to Victoria with his family in 1854, settling in Footscray, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was a contractor by trade, working as a carpenter on the

Williamstown railway line The Williamstown line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's third shortest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinde ...

and

Bendigo railway line The Deniliquin railway line (also known as the Bendigo railway line or the Echuca railway line) is a broad-gauge railway line serving north-western Victoria, Australia. The line runs from the New South Wales town of Deniliquin into Bendigo, b ...

then as a builder at Footscray. He was a City of Footscray councillor from 1893 until his death and was mayor in 1901-02 and 1911-12. McDonald was elected to the Legislative Assembly at a June 1902 by-election, defeating

John Lemmon Edward John Lemmon (1 June 1930 – 29 July 1966) was a British logician and philosopher born in Sheffield, England. He is most well known for his work on modal logic, particularly his joint text with Dana Scott published posthumously (Lemm ...

by 38 votes. The Footscray seat was abolished for the 1904 election, and McDonald instead unsuccessfully contested Flemington. McDonald died at his home in Albert Street, Footscray, in 1920 and was buried at the Footscray Cemetery. Upon his death, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' described him as "perhaps the best-known figure in the district".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Alexander 1845 births 1920 deaths People from the Colony of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly