James Munro (1832–1908)

Businessman and premier of Victoria

Munro came from Scotland, where he had been a printer, to Melbourne in 1858. He brought from Scotland the idea of building societies that helped ordinary people own their own home. A person could save money with the society and it then lent them money to buy or build a house. Munro became very rich by running building societies and by buying land and subdividing it for houses.

He was a firm believer in the evils of alcohol and was a leader in the temperance movement (which believed in no drinking at all). He made money out of this movement by investing in 'coffee palaces', hotels that did not serve alcohol.

He was a member of parliament off and on and was briefly premier from 1890 to 1892. He attended the 1891 Federal Convention and made it very clear that Victoria would never accept Federation if a Senate was able to alter a government's Budget.

While he was premier his own businesses collapsed. He became bankrupt and had to live with relatives. It turned out that he had been a corrupt businessman.

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First federal convention, 1891