Background
He was born in Hobart to gaol warder Thomas Coonan and Ann Birmingham.
He was born in Hobart to gaol warder Thomas Coonan and Ann Birmingham.
A solicitor before entering politics, he practised at West Wyalong and Waverley. None of these marriages produced children. In 1877 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Bogan, but he was defeated in 1880.
He returned as the member for Forbes in 1882 and was re-elected in 1885, but did not contest the 1887 election.
Coonan died in 1926.