Robert Emmet O'Halloran (6 June 1888 – 1 December 1974) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party 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 ...

spanning 27 years, representing Eastern Suburbs between 1920 and 1927 and Orange between 1941 and 1947.

Early years

O'Halloran was born in Euchareena, New South Wales to Rose and Michael Conlon O'Halloran, a newspaper proprietor, who was involved in the early history of the Labor Party. He was educated at Christian Brothers' College, Waverley, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview; and studied law at

The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

from 1908 to 1909. He entered the New South Wales public service; eventually rising to become head of the Deceased Soldiers' Estate Department, Public Trustee's office on election to Parliament. He was a director of

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School at the ...

in 1931, Dental Hospital; president of Government employees' section clerks' Union; trustee of

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

New South Wales state political career

In the 1927 split that divided the Labor Party, O'Halloran (Caucus Secretary at the time), sided with the McKell faction against

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Jack Lang. O'Halloran subsequently lost endorsement for this move and was not pre-selected for the newly formed seats of Bondi, Coogee,

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

, Waverley and

Woollahra Woollahra ( ) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local go ...

. He remained on the outer until Lang's power waned. McKell, President of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, kept O'Halloran in his fold by appointing him as a fellow Trustee. In 1944, it was reported that O'Halloran, a resident of Chandos Street in Ashfield, was fined £10 in the Central Police Court of Sydney for having driven a motor car while under the influence of liquor. In his defence, O'Halloran claimed he was under severe mental stress at the time, because of family bereavements. He admitted that his condition might have been aggravated by his distraught state. O'Halloran, who pleaded guilty, submitted that there were extenuating circumstances. O'Halloran's younger sister had been buried that day and a few weeks earlier he had lost his eldest daughter. His son had contracted meningitis whilst returning from New Guinea. He submitted that loss of his driver's licence would be a great hardship because he used his car as an agent and as a Member of Parliament. The Magistrate, in fining O'Halloran, said he was not prepared to extend the benefit of hardship, meaning that the licence is automatically cancelled for twelve months. O'Halloran died at Glenbrook, survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohalloran, Robert Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1888 births 1974 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians