Sir Robert Wallace Best KCMG (18 June 1856 – 27 March 1946) was an Australian politician.
Best was born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and educated at Templeton's school, Fitzroy. He left school at 13 and became a clerk in a printing office and then worked for a solicitor where he took articles and matriculated in 1875. He studied law at the University of Melbourne and was admitted as a solicitor in 1881. He married Jane Caroline the same...
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Sir Robert Wallace Best KCMG (18 June 1856 – 27 March 1946) was an Australian politician.
Best was born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood and educated at Templeton's school, Fitzroy. He left school at 13 and became a clerk in a printing office and then worked for a solicitor where he took articles and matriculated in 1875. He studied law at the University of Melbourne and was admitted as a solicitor in 1881. He married Jane Caroline the same year. He was elected as an alderman on Fitzroy City Council almost continuously from 1883 to 1897 and served as mayor in 1888 and 1889.
In April 1889, Best was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Richmond and was offered, but turned down, a position in William Shiels' ministry in 1892. From September 1894 to December 1899 he was President of the Board of Land and Works, Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey and Commissioner of Trade and Customs. He was responsible for introducing tariff reform in 1896 and land...
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