Robert Walsh, QC (October 1824 – 24 August 1899) was an Australian lawyer and politician, member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the states and territories of Australia, state lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the state upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament H ...

and

Attorney-General of Victoria The Attorney-General of Victoria, in formal contexts also Attorney-General or Attorney General for Victoria,See, e.g., ''Bullivant v Attorney-General for Victoria''

900 __NOTOC__ Year 900 ( CM) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Abbasid Caliphate * Spring – Forces under the Transoxianian emir Isma'il ibn Ahmad are victorious at Balkh (Northern Afghan ...

AC 196; ''Ryan v Attorney General for Victoria''

967 Year 967 ( CMLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Otto I (the Great) calls for a council at Rome, to present the new government under Pope John XIII. He ...

VR 514 is a Mini ...

. Walsh was born in

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside (Dublin), southside suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in County Dublin. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and Dublin 16, 16. It is between the Lo ...

, Dublin, Ireland, son of Michael Walsh, a Dublin merchant. Robert was educated at Chaill's Blackrock School and

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he took his degree in 1846, with a moderatorship in logic and ethics. In November 1847 he was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland () is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

, and in 1853 emigrated to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. Walsh practised his profession at

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

for some years from 1855. In April 1871 he entered the Legislative Assembly for Ballarat East, and was

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in the

Charles Gavan Duffy Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (12 April 1816 – 9 February 1903), was an Irish poet and journalist (editor of ''The Nation (Irish news ...

Ministry from July of that year till June 1872. At the 1874 General Election he did not stand for Parliament, and devoted himself to the practice of the legal profession in Melbourne. In December 1886 he was appointed Crown Prosecutor for the metropolitan district, and in 1892 conducted the case for the prosecution against the murderer

Frederick Bailey Deeming Frederick Bailey Deeming (30 July 1853 – 23 May 1892) was an English-born Australian serial killer who was convicted and executed for the murder of his entire family in Rainhill and his second wife in Melbourne. He is remembered today because ...

. Walsh was appointed a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1890, he died in

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...

on 24 August 1899, survived by his wife and a large family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Robert Australian Roman Catholics 19th-century Australian lawyers Victoria (state) state politicians Irish emigrants to Australia 1824 births 1899 deaths People from Rathfarnham Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Attorneys-general of the Colony of Victoria 19th-century Australian politicians Australian King's Counsel Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Lawyers from County Dublin Politicians from County Dublin Attorneys-general of Victoria