Denis Doherty

Denis Joseph Doherty (1861 – 23 October 1935) was an Irish-Australian businessman, pastoralist and politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1897 to 1903, representing the seat of North Fremantle.

Doherty was born in Newry, County Armagh, Ireland. He arrived in Australia in 1882, settling in Sydney. In 1886, he moved to Wyndham, a small town in Western Australia's Kimberley region, with a schoolmate from Ireland, Francis Connor. They went into partnership together, initially supplying goods to the Kimberley goldfields, and later went into the live cattle trade, acquiring two pastoral leases in the Northern Territory (Newry Station and Auvergne Station). In 1897, Connor and Doherty merged their business with that of Michael Durack, forming Connor, Doherty & Durack.

Doherty first stood for parliament at the 1895 North Fremantle by-election, but was defeated by Matthew Moss. He stood again at the 1897 general election, and defeated three other candidates. He did not live in the area, but had business interests there. Doherty was re-elected at the 1901 election, but resigned from parliament in August 1903 to travel to England on business. The resulting by-election was won by John Ferguson. Doherty returned to Australia in 1930, and died in Subiaco, Perth, in 1935, aged 74. He had married Georgina Cable in 1888, with whom he had five children but only four survived: George Roy Doherty, Kathleen Doherty, Auvergne Doherty and Dorothy Doherty. Provided by Wikipedia