Daniel Egan ( – 16 October 1870) was an Australian colonial politician who was a member of the New South Wales Parliament from 1854 to his death in October 1870, serving for the last couple of years as Postmaster-General. Prior to his parliamentary career, Egan was an alderman in the City of Sydney council, serving as mayor in 1853.
Biography
Early years
Daniel Egan was born in about 1803 in Windsor, New South Wales, the son of Bryan and Mary Egan (one of five children). His father was an Irish convict, transported for life to New South Wales in 1797.Bryan Egan, 1764–…, Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW website; accessed 8 August 2025.
Young Daniel "was reared as a shipwright".The Legislative Assembly: No. 53 - Daniel Egan, Empire (Sydney), 7 August 1857, page 4.
Government employment
On 1 October 1824 Daniel Egan was appointed to the position of Master Builder and overseer of the Her Majesty's Dockyard in Sydney.Daniel Egan, 1804–1870 (aged 66 years), Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW website; accessed 8 August 2025.Our Portrait Gallery, Illustrated Sydney News, 22 October 1853, page 4. In mid-October 1824 a barge, built by "young Egan, a currency lad", was launched at Point Piper in Sydney Harbour.Governor Macquarie, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 28 October 1824, page 2.
Daniel Egan and Mary Ann (or Marianne) Piper were married in about 1826. The couple had three children, two sons and a daughter.Mary Ann Egan (1804–1838), People Australia website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 7 August 2025.
Egan supervised the operations of the government dockyard for eleven years under the successive colonial administrations of governors Sir Thomas Brisbane, Sir Ralph Darling and Sir Richard Bourke. Amongst the important works carried out under Egan's supervision was the conversion of the Phoenix ship into a hulk for the reception of colonial prisoners. The dockyard also produced government punts that were operated in settled districts and vessels used for the exploration of the rivers of the colony.The ship Phoenix..., The Australian (Sydney), 17 February 1825, page 2.The Government Punt..., The Australian (Sydney), 20 December 1826, page 3.
In March 1833 Egan was recorded as part-owner of the schooner Governor Bourke, engaged in trading between Sydney and the Swan River colony in Western Australia.Police Report, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 9 March 1833, page 2.
The government dockyard was closed in 1835. Egan was offered a similar appointment at the imperial dockyard at Trincomalee in Ceylon, which he declined, preferring "to accept a gratuity rather than to leave the colony".Death of the Hon. Daniel Egan, Evening News, 17 October 1870, page 2. He received a gratuity equal in amount to two years' salary.G. P. Walsh (1972), Daniel Egan (1803–1870), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 2 August 2025.
Business and local government
After the closure of the government dockyard Egan went into business operating passenger and freight services between Sydney and the settlements of Launceston and Hobart Town in Van Diemen's Land. By March 1836 he was advertising passage on the barque Francis Freeling, described as a "fine fast-sailing Packet Ship".For Hobart Town Direct, The Sydney Herald, 7 March 1836, page 3. By May 1836 he was operating the Samuel Cunard directly to and from Launceston.For Launceston Direct, The Sydney Herald, 26 May 1836, page 1. In July 1836 Egan purchased the barque Macclesfield at auction.Mr. Daniel Egan..., The Sydney Monitor, 27 July 1836, page 2. In December 1836 it was reported that Egan had purchased the Francis Freeling outright, to be used "in the Hobart Town trade".We understand Mr. Daniel Egan..., The Sydney Monitor, 14 December 1836, page 2. By 1837 Egan was operating two vessels between Sydney and Hobart Town, the Marian Watson and the Lady Wellington.For Hobart Town Direct, Commercial Journal and Advertiser (Sydney), 13 September 1837, page 1.
Egan's first wife Mary Ann died in 1838.
His second marriage was to Marianne (or Marian) Cahnac (née Cheers), widow of Henry St. John Cahuac, on 17 July 1843 at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.Family Notices, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 July 1843, page 3.Henry St. John Cahuac, 1808–1841 (aged 33 years), Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW website; accessed 8 August 2025.
In November 1842, with the introduction of district councils to the colony, Egan was one of four aldermen elected to represent the Gipps ward in the first municipal election for the Sydney City Council.The Municipal Elections, The Australian (Sydney), 2 November 1842, page 2.
Daniel Egan's business as a merchant was a casualty of the economic depression in the colony during the early 1840s. By September 1843, after his shipping interests had suffered a series of reverses, Egan was declared to be bankrupt.Friday, September 15, Australasian Chronicle (Sydney), 16 September 1843, page 3.In the Insolvent Estate of Daniel Egan, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 22 September 1843 (Issue No. 79), page 1222.Barrie Dyster (2022), The Depression of the 1840s in New South Wales, Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 31 July 2025. An alderman that became insolvent was not longer eligible to be a city councillor, so soon after Egan's financial situation became known the seat he occupied representing Gipps ward was declared to be vacant.Domestic Intelligence, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 September 1843, page 4.
By 1844 Egan was residing at 103 Hunter Street in Sydney. In May 1844 the following properties and asset belonging to the insolvent estate of Daniel Egan was sold by public auction at the request of Egan's creditors: land at Gipps Town (off Parramatta Road), a farm at Cattai Creek and the schooner Marian Watson.In the Insolvent Estate of Daniel Egan, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 3 May 1844 (Issue No. 42), page 647. In November 1844 Egan was one of four candidates for municipal elections to fill two vacancies for Gipps ward. However he was unsuccessful at this attempt, running third in the poll.Municipal Elections, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November 1844, page 2.
At the election of city councillors held in November 1846 Egan was elected to represent Gipps ward of the City of Sydney.Election of City Councillors, 1846-7, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 6 November 1846 (Issue No. 93), page 1391. He served as an alderman of the Sydney council until 1853, after which the council was replaced by city commissioners.Terri McCormack (2010), Egan, Daniel, Dictionary of Sydney website, State Library of New South Wales; accessed 10 August 2025.Daniel Egan, Sydney's Aldermen website, City of Sydney; accessed 9 August 2025. Egan served as a magistrate on the Sydney bench from 1848 to 1853 and was considered to be "one of those who was most assiduous in the performance of his duties". He was commissioned as a Justice of the Peace in 1853.Death of the Hon. Daniel Egan, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), 22 October 1870, page 9.
By February 1851 Egan was registered as a Spirit Merchant, trading as Daniel Egan and Co.Spirit Merchants and Brewers, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February 1851, page 5. The business sold wine and beer, as well as spirits, from its stores in George Street.Barclay and Perkins' Porter, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1853, page 3. In January 1854 Egan's eldest son, John Piper Egan, was admitted as a partner in the business which was then conducted under the name of Egan and Son.Public Notice, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 1854, page 4.
In December 1852 the annual election for mayor of the City of Sydney was held in the various council wards. Daniel Egan was elected as mayor for the year 1853 "by a majority of votes in the whole of the wards collectively".Election of Mayor for 1853, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 21 December 1852 (Issue No. 126), page 1845. In a later article in The Empire newspaper, Egan was described as a man "possessing neither education nor natural capacity". The writer added, referring to Egan's career as an alderman: "For many years past he has been known chiefly for his obsequiousness to the local government, with whom his servility has been the means, it is said, of obtaining for him an influence which would never have been accorded to his ability".The Candidates for Maneroo, The Empire, 15 March 1854, page 2.
By the early 1850s public dissatisfaction had grown in regard to the municipal control of Sydney under an elected council. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald referred to "the defects" in the corporate governance of the city: "At all events, the citizens at large will be satisfied to have got rid of an incubus which has long heavily burdened the city, and exposed it to danger and nuisance entirely inconsistent with the progress of Municipal Government in the mother country".The Corporation of the City of Sydney, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 November 1853, page 2. In October 1853, towards the end of Egan's tenure as mayor, the New South Wales parliament passed the 'Sydney Corporation Abolition Act' which allowed for the municipal administration of the city from January 1854 under the centralised and appointed control of three salaried commissioners.B. R. Gelling (1904), 'The Municipal Institutions of Australia: With Special Reference to Conditions in new South Wales', The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March 1904, Volume 23, page 64; accessed 11 August 2025.
Political career
In March 1854, with the resignation of the sitting member, it was reported that Egan had nominated as a candidate to contest the election in the New South Wales Legislative Council to represent the Pastoral District of Maneroo.Election for Maneroo, Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 4 March 1854, page 4. It had been reported that Charles Kemp also intended to be a candidate to represent Maneroo, but in late March he withdrew from the contest "not deeming it advisable to demand a poll", as a result of which Egan was elected unopposed, taking his seat on 1 April 1854.District of Maneroo, Freeman's Journal (Sydney), 15 April 1854, page 10.
After the introduction of a bicameral system of government to New South Wales, on 16 April 1956 Egan was elected unopposed as the member for Maneroo in the newly-created Legislative Assembly.Representation of Maneroo, The Empire (Sydney), 4 April 1856, page 3.
Egan's wife Marian and her two children by her first marriage (Henry and Gertrude) were aboard the Dunbar which was wrecked on 20 August 1857 at The Gap, as the ship approached Sydney Heads (the entrance to Sydney Harbour), with the loss of all lives on board (except for one survivor).Family Notices, Empire (Sydney), 27 August 1857, page 4. Marian Egan was described as "a lady of eminent charity and piety". She and her children were returning from England, having travelled there "to afford her children an opportunity to see society, in its more settled and ancient forms".Narrative of the Wreck of the Dunbar, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September 1857, page 5.
In October 1857 Egan purchased two parcels of land in the northern Sydney region, in an area later known as the suburb of Beacon Hill.Beacon Hill, Historical Encounters website; accessed 14 August 2025.
At the general election held in January and February 1858 Egan won the majority of votes (68.3 percent) against another candidate, George Hebden, and was re-elected as the member for Maneroo.Maneroo - 1858, 'NSW Elections', Parliament of New South Wales website; accessed 11 August 2025.Election for Maneroo, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 1858, page 5.