William Hutchinson (Victorian politician)

William Hutchinson (31 May 1864 – 18 December 1924) was an Australian politician.

Hutchinson was born in Stawell to miner William Hutchinson and Mary née McKay.^[1] He attended state school and then night school while working on his uncle's farm. He was a shop assistant in Murtoa until 1885, when he became a watchmaker and jeweller at Warracknabeal. On 7 September 1898 he married Janet Mackay, with whom he had four children.

In October 1902 Hutchinson was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for Borung.^[2] A Country Liberal who opposed Thomas Bent, he was Minister of Water Supply and Agriculture from 22 December 1913 to 9 November 1915, Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey from 9 November 1915 - 29 November 1917, and Minister of Public Instruction and Forests from 1918 to 1920. He was defeated by David Allison, a Victorian Farmers' Union candidate in 1920.^[2][3] Hutchinson, who had sold his Warracknabeal business in 1907 and resided in Melbourne, died in East Malvern in 1924.^[1][2] His nephew John Austin Gray was later a member of the Victorian Parliament.^[4]