John Plunkett

Early life

John Hubert Plunkett was born at Mount Plunkett, County Roscommon, Ireland, the younger of twins and son of George Plunkett and his wife Eileen, née O'Kelly. Plunkett entered Trinity College Dublin, in November 1819 (graduating B.A. in 1824) and was called to the Irish bar in 1826 and later to the English bar. He practised as a barrister on the Connaught circuit in 1826–32 with distinction, and was given credit by Daniel O'Connell for the success of the Whig candidates in Connaught at the general election in 1830.

Legal career in Australia

In 1831 Plunkett was appointed Solicitor-General of New South Wales, on a salary of £800. Plunkett, his wife, sister and four female servants arrived in Sydney on the Southworth in June 1832. disestablished the Church of England and established legal equality between Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians and later Methodists.

Plunkett obtained leave of absence to attend to family matters in Ireland from late 1841, and did not return to Sydney until August 1843. Roger Therry was appointed acting attorney-general in May 1841, to serve during Plunkett's absence. Following the death of Chief Justice Sir James Dowling in September 1844, Plunkett asserted that he should be offered the vacant position as a right of his position as Attorney-General. The Executive Council rejected his claimed right to the position, and Supreme Court judge Alfred Stephen was appointed.

Parliamentary career

In the same year he was elected as the member for both Bathurst (County) and Argyle in the Legislative Assembly at the first election under the new constitution. Plunkett was sworn in as member for Argyle and Bathurst on 22 May 1856, before submitting his resignation from Bathurst on 29 May, stating that the rules of the House would not allow him to send in his resignation earlier. Plunkett resigned from the Assembly in January 1857, was nominated to the Legislative Council, and elected its President. In February 1858, on account of the Board of Education having issued regulations which Charles Cowper, then Premier, disapproved of, Plunkett was dismissed from his position as chairman and he thereupon resigned from the council. There was much public sympathy with Plunkett, and the government offered to reinstate him if he would withdraw statements he had made in letters which were considered offensive. Plunkett declined to do so. Plunkett was again a member of the Legislative Assembly for Cumberland (North Riding) from September 1858 to April 1859 and for West Sydney from June 1859 to November 1860. In June 1861 he was nominated to the council, and from October 1863 to February 1865 was vice-president of the Executive Council in the first James Martin ministry. Plunkett was then reconciled with Cowper, and from August 1865 to January 1866 was Attorney-General in the fourth Cowper ministry.

Plunkett was also vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney in 1865–67. For the last two years of his life he lived much at Melbourne on account of his wife's health, and he made his last public appearance there in 1869 as secretary to the provincial council of the Roman Catholic Church. He died on 9 May 1869 at East Melbourne leaving a widow but no children. Plunkett's remains were taken to Sydney and buried in the old Devonshire Street Cemetery, beside those of Archpriest John Joseph Therry and Archdeacon McEncroe. Plunkett was the author of The Australian Magistrate; a Guide to the Duties of a Justice of the Peace, first published in 1835 and reissued in at least three subsequent editions; The Magistrate's Pocket Book (1859), and On the Evidence of Accomplices (1863).

Plunkett was dignified and somewhat austere in manner, though he could relax on occasions such as the annual St Patrick's Day dinner which he chaired. Plunkett had much ability and exercised great influence in the early days of education in New South Wales and in the anti-transportation movement. John Fairfax said he was "the greatest friend of civil and religious liberty in the colony", and he was in advance of his time in his attitude to the land question, and in his advocacy of manhood suffrage.

Family

John Plunkett's niece, Georgina Isabella O'Sullivan (née Keon), was a daughter of Ferdinand Keon (1794-1876) and Plunkett's sister Margaret. Georgina published 'Twofold Bay Waltzes' in 1864, dedicated to her uncle, John Plunkett. The Cover artwork shows a view from the Eden residence of her brother George Plunkett Keon JP, a police magistrate who was buried in 1899 with his brother Hubert Keon.

References

References

1. ) was [[Attorney-General of New South Wales]], an appointed member of the [[New South Wales Legislative Council. Legislative Council]] 1836–41, 1843–56, 1857–58 and 1861–69. He was also elected as a member of the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly
2. Suttor, T. L.. "Plunkett, John Hubert (1802-1869)".
3. Earls, Tony. (2009). "Plunkett's Legacy: An Irishman's contribution to the 'rule of law' in New South Wales". Australian Scholarly.
4. {{cite Australasia. Therry, Sir Roger
5. (9 November 1844). "News from the colonies". [[South Australian Register]].
6. "NSW silk appointments".
7. (23 May 1856). "Legislative Assembly 22 May 1856". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
8. (30 May 1856). "Legislative Assembly 29 May 1856". [[Empire (newspaper).
9. "The Twofold Bay waltzes [music]".
10. (29 November 1864). "The Sydney Morning Herald.". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].