John Livingston

Who was John Livingston?

John Livingston was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1906 to 1922.

Livingston was born in Mount Gambier, South Australia and educated privately at the family home of Curratum. He worked on farms in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria and in 1880 explored the Gascoyne River area of northern Western Australia. He married Eliza Dunn Paltridge in 1884. In 1898, he auction house in Mount Gambier and he became mayor of Mount Gambier in 1899.

In 1899, Livingston was elected as the member for Victoria in the South Australian House of Assembly and retained the seat after it was renamed to Victoria and Albert in 1902 but lost the seat in 1906. Livingston won the federal seat of Barker at the 1906 election for the Anti-Socialist Party. From 1909 to 1916 he was a member for the Commonwealth Liberal Party, and from 1916 to 1922 he was a member for the Nationalist Party of Australia. He was a consistent opponent of the construction of Canberra.

Livingston died in Melbourne, survived by his wife, five daughters and two sons.