Patrick Boyce Coglin

[4][5] Shortly after his arrival he purchased from Charles Beaumont Howard, the Colonial Chaplain, land in Hindley Street and opened a timber-yard, which developed into a flourishing business, bringing in Tasmanian timber,[1] and when the Burra mines were opened up he purchased the site upon which the Napoleon and Royal Exchange Hotels later stood, to cope with the expanded business.

At the general election of that year he was returned with Thomas Burgoyne for the newly constituted district of Newcastle,[6] but since 1887, when he had to give place to the Hon.

Dubbed "Polysyllabic Coglin" for his love and frequent use of long and obscure words, his "absolute fearlessness in denouncing friend and foe alike", his wit and good humour, hard work and dedication endeared him to his constituents.

Unostentatiously benevolent, he was held in high regard by Catholic and Protestant alike[2] He took a keen interest in thoroughbred racing, and it was owing to his exertions that the original grandstand was erected on the Old Adelaide Racecourse,[3] and a lease of the course was obtained from the City Corporation.

[2] He was for many years a prominent Freemason, but in 1892 renounced all such associations in order to comply with what were then requirements of the Roman Catholic Church, into which he had been baptised and confirmed.

He died after several months of ill health and was buried with his mother, who was interred in 1877 in the family vault in the Catholic section of the West Terrace Cemetery.