Robert Officer Blackwood

  • Born 24 June 1861 in Crowlands, Victoria
  • Died 22 September 1940 in St Kilda, Victoria
  • Admitted to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1882, where he took up boxing, later becoming runner-up in the amateur light-weight boxing championship in England.
  • Businessman and pastoralist
  • Married Constance Ferrier Hamilton 1895; no children
  • Won Federal seat by five votes but the 16 December 1903 election declared void due to claim of electoral irregularities and he was defeated at the subsequent 15 April 1904 by-election by his predecessor John Chanter by 363 votes. He was cleared of all allegations but never stood for Parliament again.
  • Inaugural Conargo Shire President 1907
  • Vice-president Royal Agricultural Society 1920-38
  • Described in the Australian Dictionary of Biography as: “A slim man of great integrity and little humour, [who] devoted himself to music and business while Constance dwelt mostly overseas.”
Cristy Houghton