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Member Details

Mr Robert Hoddle Driberg WHITE (1838 - 1900)

Member Photo
Date of Birth: 19/05/1838
Place of Birth: Stroud, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Death: 20/10/1900
Place of Death: Callan Park, New South Wales, Australia
Parliamentary Service
Position Start End Period Notes
Member of the NSW Legislative Council 08 Feb 1888 28 Oct 1900 12 years 8 months 21 days Life Appointment under the Constitution Act. Date of Writ of Summons 30 December 1887
Cornwell’s Estate Bill Committee No.10 11 Dec 1885 27 Jan 1886 1 month 17 days
Refreshment Committee No.5 03 Dec 1885 25 Oct 1886 10 months 23 days
Member for Gloucester 16 Oct 1885 26 Jan 1887 1 year 3 months 11 days
Vale of Clwydd Coal Mining Company’s Bill Committee No.23 01 Oct 1885 02 Oct 1885 2 days
Refreshment Room Committee No.7 24 Sep 1885 02 Oct 1885 9 days
Refreshment Room Committee No.4 17 Mar 1885 27 Mar 1885 11 days
The Governor’s Opening Speech Committee No.1 17 Mar 1885 17 Mar 1885 1 day
Refreshment Room Committee No.4 19 Nov 1884 27 Nov 1884 9 days
Blandford Proprietary School Bill Committee No.54 15 Jul 1884 01 Nov 1884 3 months 18 days
Petition of Captain Armstrong Committee No.47 06 May 1884 30 Jul 1884 2 months 25 days
Claim of Stephen Cole Committee No.36 20 Feb 1884 01 Nov 1884 8 months 13 days
Boroughs of Randwick and Paddington Bill Committee No.23 07 Dec 1883 05 Mar 1884 2 months 28 days
Saywell’s Tramway Bill Committee No.19 22 Nov 1883 18 Jan 1884 1 month 28 days
Dubbo Cattle Sale-yards Bill Committee No.8 14 Oct 1883 18 Oct 1883 5 days
Refreshment Room Committee No.4 10 Oct 1883 01 Nov 1884 1 year 23 days
Blandford Proprietary School Bill Committee No.9 06 Feb 1883 13 Feb 1883 8 days
Refreshment Room No.4 18 Jan 1883 02 May 1883 3 months 15 days
Member for Gloucester 21 Dec 1882 07 Oct 1885 2 years 9 months 17 days
Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly 21 Dec 1882 26 Jan 1887 4 years 1 month 6 days
Political Party Activity
Community Activity
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Landed proprieter. Educated initially in Melbourne by grandparents from 1846 until 1849, and then in Sydney. Junior clerk with Bank of New South Wales in Sydney in 1857. In 1859 became an accountant at the Deniliquin branch. Agent at Toowoomba Branch from 1864 until 1869; ran into debt through speculation; in 1869 until 1880 became a manager or relieving manager at Mudgee, Kyneton and Coonamble. Resigned on 31 December 1880 after receiving an inheritance and a half share in Melbourne property. Visited England and purchased an estate at Port Stephens from the Australian Agricultural Company. Lived flamboyantly. Commissioner for International Exhibitions in 1880, 1883, 1887 and 1888. Representative Commissioner for New South Wales at Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886. Member of Aborigines Protection Board from February 1893. Royal Commissioner on Fisheries from 1894 until 1895. Foundation life member of New South Wales branch of the Royal Geological Society of Australasia. Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute. Member of the Union Club.
Military Service
Honours Received
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Local Government Activity
Personal
Elder son of James Charles White, pastoral superintendent, and Sarah Elizabeth Hoddle. Married Eliza Jane Cowper, daughter of the Rev. William Macquarie Cowper, Dean of Sydney (and thus the niece of Sir Charles Cowper, five times Premier of New South Wales) on 2 May 1863 at Sydney and they had 2 daughters and 2 sons. Church of England.
Additional Information
Biography and portrait in ‘Australian Men of Mark’, Volume 1. Sydney, [?1889] , page 241

The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.