Columbus Fitzpatrick (1810 – 8 November 1877) was an Irish-born Australian builder, political activist and amateur historian. He was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

to Bernard Fitzpatrick, later chief bailiff for the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

, and Catherine Milling. He migrated to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

with his family in 1811, and grew up at Windsor and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

. He was taught by his mother, an active Catholic who founded the St Mary's Cathedral Choir. He was assistant to

Philip Conolly Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

and John Joseph Therry, and in 1826 was an apprentice coachbuilder. He was granted land at Narara near

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern ext ...

in 1830, and in 1838 moved to

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

, where he became a builder and occasional undertaker. In 1845 he married Margaret Gilligan, with whom he had six children. He was an advocate on behalf of free selectors,

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold ...

and labour rights, but his candidature for the 1856 colonial election in the seat of Argyle saw him receive zero votes. The local council was dissolved in 1863 and Fizpatrick was appointed overseer of local works, a position he held until 1868. He was an alderman from 1873, and made several unsuccessful runs for the mayoralty. He contributed extensively to the local press, largely on colonial history. His articles were used by Cardinal Patrick Moran in 1895. Fitzpatrick died in 1877, having fallen ill after leading a funeral in poor weather.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzpatrick, Columbus 1810 births 1877 deaths 19th-century Australian historians