MP Biographical Register

Robert Thomson Robinson

Parliamentary Service

House

MLA

Party

Liberal until 1917 then Nationalist Member executive committee Liberal League

Date Elected

21 October 1914

Electorate

Canning

Service

Electorates

MLA Canning 21 October 1914–12 March 1921
Contested Canning 12 March 1921, Albany 22 March 1924

Office

Attorney General, 27 July 1916–17 May 1919
Minister for Mines, 27 July 1916–28 June 1917 and 17 April–21 June 1919
Minister for Industries and for Woods, (until 17 April 1919) and Forests 28 June 1917–21 June 1919

Inaugural Speech

Year Retired/Resigned

1921

Personal Information

Birth date

18 January 1867

Place of birth

Ballibay, Monaghan County, Ireland

Death date

19 September 1926

Place of death

Mt Lawley, Western Australia

Cemetery

Karrakatta Cemetery, WA. Anglican area, EA section, 0079B grave site

Arrived in WA

Arrived in WA June 1878 per Siam to Albany

Parents

Son of John, bank manager and merchant, and Margaret Thomson Brother of Herbert Robinson, businessperson and politician

Marriage and Family

Married (1) 17 December 1890, St George’s Cathedral, Perth to Ellen Elizabeth Munns (Minna) Francisco (born circa April 1870 and died 5 July 1943), daughter of David Bras and Ellen Hillman
Children: five daughters
Divorced 9 September 1902
Married (2) 22 September 1903, Wesley Church, Melbourne, Victoria to Winifred Mona Corless (born circa 1876), daughter of James and Winifred Laughlan
No children
Widowed 1908
Married (3) 17 May 1908, St Hilary’s Church, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria to Elizabeth Gordon Hedges (born circa October 1889 and died circa December 1962), daughter of William Noah and Elizabeth Paterson
Children: three sons and four daughters

Religion

Church of England

Education

Blackwood State School, Victoria and Prince Alfred College, Albany

Occupation

Lawyer

Employment History

Articled to EGS Hare at Albany and then Septimus Burt, Perth, 1885
Associate to Chief Justice Sir Alexander Onslow
Admitted as a barrister to the WA Bar, 1889
In partnership with Samuel Johnson Haynes at Albany, 1897
Took over Sholl and Foulkes in Perth, became Haynes, Robinson and Cox, 1903
King’s Counsel, 1914
Shareholder in estate from 1900 and developed into suburb of Mt Lawley with Samuel Copley, also other property in Perth and Albany
Partner in pastoral lease at Karonie, east of Kalgoorlie

Local Government

Member, Perth Road Board, 1908–1926

Background/Membership

Travelled to Victoria with parents, 1873
Member, executive Western Australian Town Planning Association formed 1916
Member, Kings Park Board
President, Automobile Club of WA and Perth Motor Cycle Club

References

D Black and G Bolton, eds, Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia: volume one 1870-1930, Parliamentary History Project, Perth, WA, 2010, p. 171.
Metropolitan Cemeteries Board website. Accessed online 12 July 2022. https://portal.mcb.wa.gov.au/name-search/ns-detail/?id=027d3c4a-8e1d-ec11-b6e7-00224814cbaf

Further Information

Clive R. Moore, 'Robinson, Robert Thomson (1867–1926)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/robinson-robert-thomson-8244/text14435, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 11 January 2016.