John Macrossan

John Murtagh Macrossan (1833-91) was born in County Donegal in Ireland and emigrated to Australia at the age of 20 to seek his fortune in the gold rushes.  

By 1865, he had moved to north Queensland, where he became a leading figure amongst the miners. In 1873, he became a member of the Legislative Assembly and commenced a long career in politics (1873-91).   He served two terms in the government, as Secretary for Public Works and Mines (1879-83, 1888-90) and a short term as Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Mines (1890).  

Macrossan died whilst representing Queensland, with Sir Samuel Griffith, at the Australasian National Convention in Sydney in March 1891.  The Australian Dictionary of Biography observes that “Macrossan emerged as one of the earliest and ablest of the apostles of Federation. Contemporaries have recorded his fervent, infectious enthusiasm and clear grasp of principles. In the convention debates he stands out for his knowledge and admiration of American precedent. Bernhard Wise and Alfred Deakin recorded that he was a quiet speaker but stress the detail and incisiveness of his argument”.

In 1874, Macrossan married Bridget Queely in Townsville.  They had eight children – with four of his sons becoming practising lawyers.  Remarkably, three of his descendants served as Chief Justice of Queensland.  

The first of these sons, John Michael Macrossan (1877-1926), was a solicitor who became a partner of the Brisbane firm of Bergin, Papi and Macrossan.

The second son, Hugh Denis Macrossan (1881-1940), was a graduate of the University of Sydney, who became a barrister, a Judge of the Supreme Court (1926) and then Chief Justice of Queensland (1940). 

The third son, Vincent Eugene James Macrossan (1883-1969), was a solicitor who founded the firm of Macrossan & Amiet in Mackay (1920) and then the firm of Macnish & Macrossan in Brisbane (1952).  He was the father of John Murtagh Macrossan, who became a barrister and then a Judge of the Supreme Court (1980) and Chief Justice of Queensland (1989-98).

The fourth son, Neal William Macrossan (1889-1955), was one of Queensland’s first Rhodes Scholars, who graduated in law from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College).   He married the daughter of a leading Queensland businessman, TC Beirne, and after a long career at the bar in Queensland, became a Judge of the Supreme Court (1940) and then Chief Justice of Queensland (1946-55­).  His grandchildren include Justice Hugh Fraser, formerly of the Queensland Court of Appeal.

NW Macrossan, and his father-in-law, TC Beirne, were instrumental in the establishment of the Law School at the University of Queensland.