Hutchinson was born in Maindample, Victoria, and educated at Bonnie Doon State School, Mansfield High School and Scotch College in Melbourne. He worked for a Melbourne motor company and as a woolclasser in Sydney for the Australian Estates Company, before returning to work as a grazier on the family farm at Bonnie Doon, ultimately taking the farm over upon his father's retirement. He was a member of the central executive of the National Federation and a leading figure in the Young Nationalists' Association, and locally was captain of the Bonnie Doon Football Club.[1][2][3][4]
In 1931, he was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the United Australia Party member for Indi, at 28 years of age being the youngest member of that parliament.[5] Together with Labor member for OxleyFrancis Baker, he was the first member of the House born after Federation.[6] He travelled widely overseas and in parliament was considered knowledgeable about international affairs; he was also a prominent voice within his party on primary producers' issues.[1]
Hutchinson held Indi until 1937, when he successfully contested the new seat of Deakin, which had consumed the southern end of the old Indi seat in an electoral redistribution.[7] He attempted to list for World War II service in 1940, but was rejected on account of defective eyesight.[8] In 1944, the United Australia Party became the Liberal Party of Australia, which Hutchinson duly joined. He held Deakin until 1949, when he retired to become a grazier. He died in 1967.
^"NEW FACES IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT". The News. Vol. XVII, no. 2, 630 (Home ed.). Adelaide. 22 December 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.