Hugh McKernan (c. 1858 – 13 March 1929) was an Australian businessman, newspaper proprietor, and politician who was a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

from 1894 to 1896. McKernan was born in Ireland, and at a young age became a member of the

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

. His job was to infiltrate

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

gatherings and report on any speeches given. McKernan left Ireland for Australia in 1882, initially living in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. He came to Western Australia in 1889, attracted by the economic prospects of the Yilgarn gold rush, and set up in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

as an auctioneer and agent for interstate and overseas companies. He eventually became the proprietor of the ''

Geraldton Express The ''Geraldton Express'' was a newspaper established in Geraldton, Western Australia It was founded in 1878. On 1 January 1929 it amalgamated with the other Geraldton newspaper, the Geraldton Guardian (established in 1878), and was published ...

'', a newspaper in the

Mid West The Mid West region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is a sparsely populated region extending from the west coast of Western Australia, about north and south of its administrative centre of Geraldton and inland to east of W ...

. McKernan was elected to parliament at the 1894 Legislative Council elections, which were the first to be held after the advent of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

in 1890. He polled the third-highest number of votes in Central Province, and hence was only elected to a two-year term. In the same year, McKernan was also elected to the Perth City Council. At the 1896 election, McKernan was defeated in Central Province by Richard Septimus Haynes. He recontested the seat at an 1898 by-election, caused by the resignation of

Edward Wittenoom Sir Edward Horne Wittenoom Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (12 February 1854 – 5 March 1936) was an Australian politician who served intermittently in the Western Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Cou ...

, but lost to William Loton.Hugh McKernan
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 14 Jun 2016. McKernan later stood for the Legislative Assembly at the 1901 state election, but lost to Mathieson Jacoby in the seat of Swan. In September 1907, he was arrested and charged with threatening to kill Richard Haynes (his opponent in the 1896 Central Province election), with whom he had a long-running feud. The charges were not proceeded with, on the grounds of temporary insanity."CASE OF HUGH MCKERNAN."
''

Kalgoorlie Miner ''The Kalgoorlie Miner'' (commonly known as ''The Miner'') is a daily newspaper circulating in the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder and the Goldfields–Esperance region, in Western Australia. It is published Monday to Saturday by Hocking & Co. ...

'', 10 October 1907. McKernan made one final run for parliament at the 1908 state election, losing to John Hardwick in the seat of East Perth. He died in Perth in 1929, having never married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKernan, Hugh 1850s births 1929 deaths Australian newspaper publishers (people) Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Perth City Councillors