The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/O'Grady, Hon. Michael
O'Grady, Hon. Michael, K.S.G., M.L.A., was born in Roscommon, Ireland, in 1821, and went to London as a boy to push his fortune. In 1855 he was sent out to Sydney to establish a branch of the "People's Provident Society." The next year he removed to Melbourne and was connected with insurance business. In 1861 he entered the Lower House of the Victorian Parliament as member for Villiers and Heytesbury, and was Commissioner of Public Works in the Sladen Ministry from May to July 1868. He held the same post in the Duffy Ministry from June 1871 to May 1872. Mr. O'Grady, who was created a Knight of St. Gregory by the Pope in 1871, died in 1875.