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Son of George McCulloch,
was born at Glasgow m 1819. He had a primary education at a local school
and obtained employment in the business of Dennistoun Brothers, merchants.
He showed such diligence that he gradually rose, was made a junior
partner, and in 1853 was sent to Melbourne to organize an Australian
branch of the business. In 1854 he was nominated a member of the old
legislative council of Victoria. In 1856, under the new constitution, he
was elected a member of the legislative assembly for Wimmera, and in April
of the next year was called upon by the governor to form a ministry. He
attempted a coalition with O'Shanassy (q.v.), but the negotiations broke
down and eventually W. C. Haines (q.v.) became premier with McCulloch
holding the position of commissioner of trade and customs. In October
1859, when the W. Nicholson (q.v.) government came in, McCulloch was
treasurer, but the early governments of Victoria had no lasting qualities
and he was out of office again in September 1860. In June 1863 he was
asked to form a ministry and succeeded in getting together the strongest
cabinet that had held office up to that time. It lasted for nearly five
years, and there were opportunities to bring in valuable legislation which
were not fully availed of. In fact much of the time was taken up with a
constitutional struggle relating to the powers of the legislative council.
The governor, Sir Charles Darling, was not a strong man, and his conduct
of affairs did nothing to improve matters. At the election held in August
1864, the government obtained a large majority, including many men who
were strong democrats looked upon as dangers to the community by the
conservative legislative council. Both McCulloch and Higinbotham (q.v.),
his attorney-general, were free-traders, but to the astonishment of
everyone a large number of protective duties were introduced as part of
the government policy under the guise of "revenue duties". Knowing that
these would be strongly opposed in the council, the tariff bill was tacked
on to the appropriation bill, passed through the assembly, and sent to the
council which promptly rejected it. The government now being unable to pay
the civil servants, the ingenious device was adopted of borrowing money
from a bank, getting the bank to sue for the amount owing, and allowing
judgment to go by default. The treasury repaid the amount to the bank,
which lent the money to the government again. The struggle went on for
years, McCulloch showing a grim determination that would have been more
useful in a better cause. On the one hand McCulloch was able to say that
he had the people behind him, and that they should rule, and on the other
the council claimed that the "tacking" of a bill was a breach of
constitutional usage. A full account of the struggle will be found in
Turner's History of Victoria and in Rusden's History of
Australia.
McCulloch resigned in May
1868 and Sladen (q.v.) formed a stop-gap ministry which lasted only two
months. The question then at issue was a proposed grant of £20,000 to
Darling, the late governor. Darling, however, having been given a pension
of £1000 a year by the British government, ended the matter by stating
that neither he nor Lady Darling could accept the proposed grant.
McCulloch became premier again in July 1868 and was also chief secretary
and treasurer. He was succeeded by J. A. Macpherson (q.v.) in September
1869 but again was in power in April 1870 and was able to form a strong
cabinet. He passed an act doing away with state aid to religion, but an
attempt to bring in a property tax without exemptions, resulted in the
downfall of his ministry in 1871. In 1872 he became agent-general for
Victoria in London for about two years. In October 1875 he formed his
fourth ministry. His term of office was marked by much bitter feeling, and
the government, being opposed by persistent stonewalling from the
opposition under Berry (q.v.), was able to do business only by the
application of the closure. At the election held in May 1877 the
government was badly defeated, though McCulloch retained his seat. He
retired from politics in 1878, devoted his time to business interests, and
had an important share in the development of the frozen meat trade. Early
in 1886 he finally left Australia for England, where he died on 31 January
1893. He married 1) Susan Renwick and (2) Margaret Inglis, who survived
him. There were no children of either marriage. He was twice president of
the Melbourne chamber of commerce, a director of several important
financial institutions, and was a vice-president of the trustees of the
public library, museums, and national gallery of Victoria. He was knighted
in 1870 and created K.C.M.G. in 1874.
McCulloch was a man of
robust physique and energetic character. He had great determination, and
was a forcible debater with a clear and unvarnished style. As a
politician, he became something of an opportunist, and towards the end of
his career was rebuked by Service (q.v.) for the intrigues by which "he
had successively turned two governments out of office and wasted four
months of public time, without having anything better to offer than an
imperfect adaptation of the proposals submitted by those governments".
However true that may have been, McCulloch's force of character and
sagacious intellect had made him an important and often dominating figure
during the first 20 years of politics in Victoria. |
