Background
He was born at Auckland to cotton planter Robert Appleyard Fitzgerald and Isabella Stevenson.
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Robert Fitzgerald
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Education
The family moved to New South Wales in 1851 and Fitzgerald attended Sydney Grammar School and also a private school at Muswellbrook.
Career
He then became a solicitor"s clerk in Maitland and was admitted a solicitor in 1869. He established a partnership in Muswellbrook, and served as a local alderman (1871-1873, 1878-1880, 1885-1886) and mayor (1878-1879). In 1885 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as one of the two members for Upper Hunter.
Although associated with the Free Trade Party early in his career, by 1889 he was a Protectionist.
In 1894 he was elected the member for the single-member seat of Robertson. In April 1901 he was appointed Minister for Justice in John See"s ministry, but the post was abolished in July shortly after Fitzgerald retired from the Assembly.
He was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council in September and served until his death in 1933.
