The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Abbott, Robert Palmer
Abbott, Robert Palmer, J.P., was born in Ireland, and came to Sydney when a boy with his parents. He was admitted a solicitor in 1854. Mr. Abbott entered the Legislative Assembly in 1872 as member for Tenterfield, and was returned for Hartley in 1880. He was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1885, and sat till March 1st, 1888, when he resigned, owing to his objection to certain appointments. He was Secretary for Mines in the first Parkes Administration from July 27th, 1874, to Feb. 8th, 1875, and a member of the New South Wales Commission in London for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886.