Family background
Michael McGrath was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1826. He was married on 18 January 1853, St Marys Church in Sydney, to Mary Fitzpatrick (1825-88); they had five sons and two daughters. He died on 18 March 1886, aged 59 years.
Local government service
Michael McGrath represented Cook Municipality and Camperdown Council between 1863 and 1885, serving as mayor on both councils three times.
McGrath as mayor chaired a sanitary conference of the western suburbs at Camperdown on 7 August 1885. Its report urged the government to carry out a system of sewage as it was ‘of the greatest importance to the health of the inhabitants’. Four years later a Parliamentary Standing Committee held an inquiry into the matter.
References
Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 1885, p. 11
Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1886, p. 10
Sydney Morning Herald, 19 March 1886, p. 14