The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/M'Kean, Hon. James

1401346The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — M'Kean, Hon. JamesPhilip Mennell

M‘Kean, Hon. James, son of Rev. David M‘Kean, a Presbyterian minister, was born at Belfast, Ireland, on April 24th, 1832. He emigrated to Victoria about 1854, and experienced a variety of the ups and downs of colonial life. In 1863 he was admitted a solicitor of the supreme court of the colony, and still practises in Melbourne. He was member for Maryborough for a number of years, and was Minister of Lands in the Macpherson Ministry from Sept. 1869 to April 1870. During the prevalence of the "Stonewall" agitation, in 1876, Mr. M‘Kean was committed to the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms for disorderly conduct in defying the closure rule, and was ultimately expelled the House for some uncomplimentary references to his fellow-members of the Assembly, made whilst conducting a police court case. Mr. M‘Kean was subsequently elected for North Gippsland, but was defeated at the general election in 1883, and has not since re-entered parliament, though he contested Collingwood in June 1892.