Irishman Hugh McKerna’s fortunes rose as an auctioneer and politician in early Perth society before he fell from grace, writes Margaret Ker.
The fortunes that were won and lost in gold rush Perth were not merely financial.
The case of Irish Catholic businessman and politician Hugh McKernan is an example of the kinds of divisions that can easily arise in a small migrant community.
Born in Ireland in 1858, Hugh McKernan came to Perth from the eastern states in 1889. He set up as a land agent and auctioneer in what was then a very small city, and quickly won the confidence of the new Bishop Matthew Gibney, who came to rely heavily on him in his acquisition of land for churches and schools.
One of the biggest projects in which Hugh McKernan was involved was the development of Mount Heart Estate at Highgate Hill, a residential subdivision with two acres in the centre reserved for a church and school.
The reserve (called Alacoque Square in honour of St Margaret Mary Alacoque) is now occupied by Sacred Heart Church; the Archdiocesan Archives in the Highgate Parish Hall; the Catholic Pastoral Centre of Our Lady of the Mission (formerly the Convent); and Sacred Heart Primary School.
Hugh McKernan advertised the development for sale by auction in January 1892, with glowing descriptions of its attractions. Approximately half the lots sold at auction, and the remainder slowly but steadily over the next few years. The first church was opened in April 1897, first school in October 1897, and the convent and permanent school buildings in January 1899.
Meanwhile, McKernan’s political star had risen steadily. As a well respected local businessman and member of the Catholic community, he was easily elected to the Legislative Council in 1894 and to Perth City Council in the same year.
He was an obvious inclusion in the party to welcome Irish hero Michael Davitt to Perth later that year. But a chance comment made to Davitt at the reception for him at the Criterion Hotel (still in existence) brought about McKernan’s social and political downfall.
Before coming to Australia Hugh McKernan had, as a very young man, served with the Royal Irish Constabulary and been given the task of recording a meeting at which Davitt had spoken. Davitt had eventually been imprisoned, and he at least believed McKernan’s notes had been an important part of the evidence against him. At the Criterion gathering McKernan reminded the distinguished guest of their previous encounter.
Davitt rounded on him and very publicly denounced him as to blame for his imprisonment.
One can only imagine the moment of acute communal embarrassment. But probably no one, least of all Davitt, could have foreseen the lasting consequences.
Slowly but surely Hugh McKernan came to be shunned, first by his own community and eventually by the community at large.
Denounced as an informer in a community that identified with Irish nationalism with all the uncritical fervour of a community in exile, he quickly lost political, social and economic support.
Even so he still appeared regularly as both guest and donor at Catholic events for the following decade and there is no evidence to suggest Bishop Gibney himself turned against him.
McKernan also managed to alienate leading Catholics such as Timothy Quinlan in the course of petty squabbles within the Perth City Council. In such a climate the label “informer’’ could be used to devastating effect, since respect and trust were so central to life in a small city.
By 1907 McKernan’s political career was well and truly at an end, and he had already become a figure of fun (having at one stage advertised for a wife) when, in a final blow to his reputation, he crossed swords with wellknown lawyer Richard Septimus Haynes.
It was Haynes who branded McKernan a “political poltroon”, and his unfortunate victim reacted so violently he was temporarily detained as insane.
The incident featured prominently in the local and interstate press, and at this point some Perth residents came to his defence. The incident with Davitt over ten years previously came out into the open and Davitt’s hasty condemnation was seen to be unwarranted. To his credit Haynes then issued a very public apology.
Hugh McKernan continued in business on a small scale for a few years after this, but tracking him through the Post Office directories reveals his increasingly impoverished circumstances. He died in March 1929 and although, as was customary, a newspaper advertisement advised his friends and invited them to his funeral he was buried in an unmarked grave at Karrakatta.