View source for Howard Hitchcock

{{For|the painter|D. Howard Hitchcock}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | honorific-prefix   = 
 | name               = Howard Hitchcock
 | native_name        = <!--The person's name in their own language, if different.-->
 | native_name_lang   = <!--ISO 639-1 code, e.g., "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} in |native_name= instead.-->
 | honorific-suffix   = 
 | image              = Hitchcock GOR.jpg
 | image_size         = 
 | smallimage         = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
 | alt                = 
 | caption            = The Hitchcock memorial wall on the [[Great Ocean Road]], near Mount Defiance, [[Lorne, Victoria]] (1930).
 | order              = 
 | office             = Mayor of the City of Geelong
 | term_start         = 1917<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242486601 |title=Geelong Elects Mayor |newspaper=[[The Herald (Melbourne)|The Herald]] |date=9 October 1917 |access-date=5 December 2018 |page=1 |via=Trove}}</ref>
 | term_end           = 1922
 | predecessor        = 
 | successor          = 
}}
'''Howard Hitchcock'''  {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CMG|OBE}} (31 March 1866 – 22 August 1932)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4469775 |title=Mr. Howard Hitchcock.:Geelong Citizen's Death |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |date=23 August 1932 |access-date=5 December 2018 |page=7 |via=Trove}}</ref> was mayor of the [[City of Geelong]] in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]] from 1917 to 1922, and a member of the [[Victorian Legislative Council]] for [[South Western Province (Victoria)|South Western Province]] from 1925 until 1931.<ref name="parl">{{cite re-member |num2=1288 |title=Howard Hitchcock |access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref> He was also a [[philanthropist]] who organised the funding and construction of [[Australia]]'s [[Great Ocean Road]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Howard Hitchcock (Estate)|url=http://www.geelongfoundation.org/2016/04/howard-hitchcock-estate|website=Geelong Community Foundation|access-date=30 December 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Hitchcock was born to George Michelmore Hitchcock and Annie, ''née'' Lowe in [[Geelong, Victoria]] on 31 March 1866. He attended the [[Flinders State School]] and other private schools, before working as an assistant in the family firm [[Bright and Hitchcocks]] at 18 years of age. After five years he became a junior partner in the company, and on 16 April 1890 he married Charlotte Louisa Turnbull, née Royce. He became a managing director in 1912 when his father died. In 1926, Hitchcock sold the company to five of its employees.<ref name="hitchcock">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=hitchcock-howard-6685 |title=Hitchcock, Howard (1866-1932) |last=Wynd |first=Ian |access-date=29 August 2022}}</ref>

==Work on the Great Ocean Road==

{{main|Great Ocean Road}}
Hitchcock was a leading proponent in the development of the [[Great Ocean Road]] on the south-west coast of Victoria.<ref>[http://www.barwonheads.net/TOWN/gor.HTM Great ocean road] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821073731/http://www.barwonheads.net/TOWN/gor.HTM |date=21 August 2006 }} at www.barwonheads.net</ref> In 1918, the Great Ocean Road Trust was formed as a private company, under the helm of president Hitchcock.  The company managed to secure £81,000 in capital from private subscription and borrowing, with Hitchcock himself contributing £3000.  Money would be repaid by charging drivers a toll until the debt was cleared, and the road would then be gifted to the state.<ref name="hitchcock" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com.au/newspapers?id=H44TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OZYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3484,4884894|title=The Great Ocean Road|publisher=[[The Sydney Mail]]|access-date=25 June 2010|date=24 April 1935}}</ref>

Hitchcock died of heart disease on 22 August 1932, before the road was completed in November 1932, and was buried in [[Geelong Eastern Cemetery]] after a service at the Yarra Street Wesleyan Church. His car was driven behind the governor's in the procession along the road during its opening ceremony.<ref name="hitchcock" /> He was survived by his wife, and a memorial was constructed in his name on the road at Mount Defiance, near Lorne.

He is still affectionately considered the "Father of the Road".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/hard-road-to-honouring-diggers/story-e6frg6nf-1111113340576|title=Hard road to honouring Diggers|author=Davis, Michael|date=14 April 2007|publisher=The Australian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501164049/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/hard-road-to-honouring-diggers/story-e6frg6nf-1111113340576|archive-date=1 May 2015|url-status=dead|access-date=26 June 2010}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bright and Hitchcocks]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311141218/http://www.geelongfoundation.org/benefactors/ Geelong Foundation web site - "Benefactors: The Philanthropist Howard Hitchcock"], retrieved 4 July 2006.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060821073731/http://www.barwonheads.net/TOWN/gor.HTM Barwon Heads web site - "The Great Ocean Road"], retrieved 4 July 2006.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060820093810/http://visitgeelong.org/heritage/historiccharacters.asp#hitchcock Visit Geelong web site - "Historic Characters"], retrieved 4 July 2006.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchcock, Howard}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian philanthropists]]
[[Category:Mayors of Geelong]]
[[Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Council]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from the Colony of Victoria]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Australia]]


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