page_title: Matthew Holmes (politician)
section_title: Life in Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Matthew Holmes (politician) / Life in Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: Premises of Holmes White &amp; Co, William Street, Melbourne
context_page_description: Matthew Holmes was a New Zealand politician and runholder. He was a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council for 35 years. Holmes was from Ireland and made his money in Victoria from farming, exporting wool, and supplying the gold fields. The family lived in Scotland for some years but Holmes moved to New Zealand. His family followed him years later and they lived for most of their time in Otago, but retired to Wellington.
context_section_description: Holmes moved to Australia in 1837 and his first business venture was a stationery shop in Melbourne's Collins Street with William Kerr. The partnership was dissolved at the end of 1841; his business partner would later found The Argus. Holmes took over the running of the stationery shop by himself. In 1843, he was declared insolvent by the courts and the stock was auctioned. It was not until 1845 that he was discharged. For some time, he had a dairy farm called "Glencairn" in the Barrabool Hills outside of Geelong.
  On 26 May 1841 at Port Phillip, he married Anne McLean, the daughter of Allan McLean of Strathallan near Echuca. After being burned out in the Black Thursday bushfires on 6 February 1851 and their youngest child dying from the effects, he relocated to Geelong and built up a profitable wool exporting company operating under the style of Holmes, White & Co.
  He also supplied the gold diggings during the Victorian gold rush. The store of Holmes, White & Co in Melbourne's William Street does not exist any longer, but their premises at 114 Lydiard Street North in Ballarat still stand and are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
caption: Premises of Holmes White & Co, William Street, Melbourne
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