Eccentric King O'Malley

1858 Birth date of King O'Malley (d. December 20, 1953), eccentric American-born Australian politician in the Australian Government, one of the most colourful characters of the early federal period of Australian political history.

Neither the date nor the place of O'Malley's birth is known with certainty. His biographers Larry Noye and Arthur Hoyle say he was born on July 2, while the Australian Parliamentary Handbook says July 4, which would be appropriate given O'Malley's American origins. O'Malley claimed all his life to have been born in Canada, which would have made him a British subject and thus eligible to stand for election, but it is more likely that he was born at his parents' farm in northern Vermont. 'King' was his mother's maiden name. He was educated at a primary school in New York City, then worked in a bank and as an insurance and real estate salesman, travelling widely around the United States.

According to his biographer Hoyle, women found him very attractive and this, as well as his espousal of the women's suffrage issue, won him many female votes when some of his opponents in his early political career had not yet awoken to this political factor ...

Pictured above: King O'Malley (far right) at the Naming of Canberra ceremony, Capital Hill, Canberra, Australia, 1913

Categories: australia, history, eccentric, australian-history