Martin McKenna (politician)

Martin McKenna (11 November 1832 – 7 May 1907) was an Irish-born brewer and politician in Victoria, Australia.

Born in Carrahill, County Kilkenny, Ireland,[1] to Patrick, a farmer, and Anastasia, née Feehan,[2] McKenna first worked as a miller for a Quaker family (though he himself was a Catholic).[3] He migrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1854, where he first tried his hand at gold mining in Ballarat, Ararat, Blackwood, and Forest Creek.[3] By 1858, he gave up on mining after a bout of typhoid fever,[1] and went into business with his brother in Malmesbury.[2] In 1859, McKenna set up the Campaspe Brewery on Ebden Street in Kyneton, in partnership with his friend William Jowett, with whom McKenna remained partnered for twenty-two years.[4]

He was a Justice of the Peace in Australia. In 1864, he was elected mayor of the borough of Kyneton, then from 1865 he was its first president as it became a shire.[1][5] He married Catherine Wheeler in 1865, with whom he would have six sons and five daughters.[2] In March 1868, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the Kyneton Boroughs in March 1868 until his retirement in March 1874.[1]

In 1881, McKenna assumed sole ownership of the brewery, moving it to Beauchamp Street. In 1887 McKenna joined with competitor Robert Cock to form the Kyneton Brewing & Malting Co. Ltd.[4] He also became a substantial landowner, and remained a councillor of the shire of Kyenton until his death.[2]