Nicholas Fitzgerald (politician)
Nicholas Fitzgerald was an Australian politician, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1864 until 1908.
Born in Galway, Ireland, to Francis Fitzgerald and Eleanor Joyes, Fitzgerald attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1845 until he entered King's Inns in 1848 and Queen's College, Galway in 1849. After travelling in Ceylon and India he moved to Victoria in 1859 and established a family brewery at Castlemaine with his brother Edward. The business had soon expanded and Fitzgerald owned property in New South Wales and Queensland. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for North Western Province from 1864 to 1882, for North Central Province 1882 to 1904, and for Southern Province from June 1904 until his death on 17 August 1908. He also represented Victoria at the Federal Convention in Sydney in 1891 and the Colonial Conference of 1894 in Ottawa, where he represented both Victoria and Tasmania.
In 1863 Fitzgerald married Marianne O'Shanassy, with whom he had seven sons. One, Percy FitzGerald, was a first-class cricketer and brigadier general in the British Army. Nicholas Fitzgerald died in St Kilda on 17 August 1908.
