Peter Snodgrass


Peter Snodgrass was a pastoralist and politician in colonial Victoria, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council, and later, of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Snodgrass was born in Portugal and arrived at Sydney, New South Wales, with his parents Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Snodgrass and Janet, née Wright, in December 1828. Peter Snodgrass travelled overland as a pioneer to the Port Phillip District in 1838, becoming a successful pastoralist in what became the state of Victoria.
Snodgrass was elected a member of the first Victorian Legislative Council on 13 September 1851. and held the seat until the original Council was abolished in 1856. Snodgrass was then elected a member of the first Victorian Legislative Assembly and remained so until his death.
In 1846 he married Charlotte Agnes Cotton, daughter of pastoralist and ornithologist John Cotton. Charlotte survived him with six sons and three daughters. One daughter married Major-General F. G. Hughes. The eldest daughter, Janet Marian, married Sir William Clarke. Snodgrass died in South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria, of a heart aneurism.