Ninian Melville (29 December 1843 – 26 June 1897) was an Australian politician in the late nineteenth century.

Early life

The son of a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

cabinet maker (Ninian Melville Jnr) who had been transported to Australia for stealing clothes, Melville was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and followed his father into the furniture making business. Unfortunately, the business collapsed in 1866 under pressure from foreign imports and Melville began organising the unemployed to protest and demand protection for the industry.

Politics

He moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

the following year where he put his carpentry skills to use with an

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker or mortician (American English), is a professional who has licenses in funeral arranging and embalming (or preparation of the deceased) involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks o ...

and also unsuccessfully contested a seat in the Victorian Parliament. He returned to Sydney in 1874 and, campaigning on a

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

platform, he eventually won the seat of

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

in 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 ...

at the 1880 by-election which he held until 1894. He was elected Chairman of Committees in 1886 but never served as a minister. His period in office was colourful including an unproven allegation of bribery and being described by the premier Sir

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and the longest-serving non-consecutive Premier of New South Wales, premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in ...

as the "veriest charlatan that ever lived" and by poet Henry Kendall in ''

The Song of Ninian Melville "The Song of Ninian Melville" is a poem by Australian writer Henry Kendall that was first published in the author's suppressed edition of his poetry collection, ''Songs from the Mountains'' in 1880. The poem is a set of verses satirising Nini ...

'' as "that immense imposter". Melville was also active in local politics spending time on Newtown Council, where he was elected mayor in 1882, and Ashfield Council, where he was elected mayor in 1896.

Death

When he died in his Summer Hill home in 1897, he was survived by his wife Mary, two sons and two daughters.

Notes

References

, rowspan="2" , {{DEFAULTSORT:Melville, Ninian 1843 births Mayors of Newtown Mayors of Ashfield 1897 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 19th-century Australian politicians Colony of New South Wales people