Michael Durack

Who was Michael Durack?

Michael Patrick Durack, was a pastoralist, and Western Australian pioneer, known as "M.P." or to the family as "Miguel". He was the son of Patrick Durack and Mary Costello, both Irish-Australians.

Durack was educated at St Patrick's College, Goulburn along with his brother, John Wallace. In 1882-83, his family went on an expedition to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. On his 21st birthday, he made the first sale of Kimberley cattle to a Halls Creek butcher for £1200 in raw gold.

In 1894, a new shipping trade was established by Francis Connor and Denis Doherty from Wyndham to Perth. The Durack family became one of the main suppliers in this market, and eventually merged with their shipping agents to form Connor, Doherty & Durack Ltd, which controlled nearly 6,000 square miles of property on the Western Australia-Northern Territory border. His firm would be a major influence on the Kimberley pastrol industry for the next fifty years.

He negotiated a shipment of 3612 cattle to Natal in 1902, which was long hailed a record overseas consignment of live cattle.

In 1917, he entered the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the Nationalist Party member for the Kimberley. He became discontented with the Mitchell government, and in 1920 joined the Country Party, subsequently retiring from politics in 1924.