Robert Matterson Vaughn (1833 – 14 April 1908) was an Australian politician, 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 ...

. Vaughn was born in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States of America, son of Jesse Vaughn, a farmer, and his wife Betsy, Matterson. Vaughn was educated at the Baptist

Geauga Seminary The Geauga Seminary (also known as Western Reserve Labor Seminary) was a Free Will Baptist school in Chester Township, Geauga County, Ohio. President James Garfield attended the Seminary. History The school was founded in 1842 by the Western Rese ...

Chester, Ohio Chester is an unincorporated community in central Chester Township, Meigs County, Ohio, United States. It lies along the Shade River at the intersection of State Routes 7 and 248. It has a post office with the ZIP code 45720. History Ch ...

. In 1852 Vaughn travelled to the Californian goldfields. In 1853 Vaughn arrived in Sydney and became a professional goldminer on the major diggings in New South Wales and Victoria. Vaughn represented Grenfell in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales from November 1880, and was

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines was an office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for ...

in the fifth Robertson Ministry, from December 1885 to February 1886. He was defeated by George Greene at the general election in 1889. At the general election in 1891 he was again returned for Grenfell as a candidate. He stood as a candidate at the 1894 election, but finished third, with Greene regaining the seat. Vaughn died in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, New South Wales on 14 April 1908; he was survived by his wife, five daughters and three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughn, Robert Matterson 1833 births 1908 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly People from Meigs County, Ohio 19th-century Australian politicians