Everything about Thomas Mcilwraith totally explained
Sir Thomas McIlwraith KCMG (
17 May 1835 –
17 July 1900) was for many years the dominant figure of colonial
politics in
Queensland. He was
Premier of Queensland from
1877 to
1883, again in
1888, and for a third time in
1893. In common with most politicians of his era, McIlwraith was an influential businessman, who combined his parliamentary career with a prosperous involvement in the
pastoral industry.
Early life
Thomas McIlwraith was born in
Ayr,
Scotland in
1835. He studied
civil engineering at the
University of Glasgow. In
1854, he emigrated to
Victoria where he worked as a civil engineer for the Department of Railways. He invested in pastoral holdings near
Maranoa and moved to Queensland in
1862. He quickly established himself as an influential figure and was elected to the
Legislative Assembly for Maranoa in
1868.
Parliamentary career
McIlwraith joined the ministry of
Arthur Macalister in January
1874 becoming Secretary for Public Works and Mines. He resigned from these posts in October of that year.
The government of
John Douglas was defeated in
1879 after a series of severe
droughts and McIlwraith became Premier for the first time. He quickly worked to ameliorate the colony's finances and with the assistance of a return of agricultural prosperity he turned the
budget deficit into a
surplus. Queensland at this stage was seeing increasing numbers of immigrants and McIlwraith oversaw the colony's economic development. The McIlwraith government introduced the divisional system of
local government to the larger part of Queensland and assisted in establishing a
postal service through the
Torres Strait Islands. In
1882 he was
knighted.
The Australian colonies were extremely anxious about
German colonial activities in the region, and, when it became clear that the German government was planning to annex eastern
New Guinea, to Queensland's north, on
4 April 1883, McIlwraith took the extraordinary step of attempting to annex it for Queensland. This was disallowed by the
British Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Lord Derby on the basis that a colonial government had no authority to annex other colonies. On
3 November 1884 the German government annexed
German New Guinea, prompting the British government to annex
British New Guinea three days later. The event was instrumental in sparking interest in the
federation movement to unite the Australian colonies.
In
1883 a government proposal to raise funds for the construction of a trans-continental
railway line by a system of land grants was attacked for
corruption in allocation of grants. McIlwraith lost office to his rival,
Samuel Griffith, in November and retired from politics in
1886.
He returned to the Parliament in
1888, this time as member for
North Brisbane. His party won a majority in the elections and he again became Premier and Treasurer. He came into conflict with the colony's Governor,
Sir Anthony Musgrave over the exercise of the
royal pardon. Musgrave died in October and McIlwraith petitioned the new Colonial Secretary
Lord Knutsford, to allow the Queensland government to be consulted on the choice of Governor. Knutsford refused and appointed
Sir Harry Blake. In November of that year ill-health forced him to resign in favour of
Boyd Morehead. He travelled to
China and
Japan.
After his return, McIlwraith's relationship with his colleagues had detoriorated, and in August
1890 he formed an alliance (later known as the "
Continuous Ministry") with his erstwhile foe to become Treasurer in the government of
Sir Samuel Griffith. In March
1893 Griffith stepped down to join the
Supreme Court of Queensland and McIlwraith became Premier again. His health was still poor and in October he resigned in favour of
Hugh Nelson, contenting himself with the cabinet position of Chief Secretary. The
Panic of 1893 and subsequent financial depression hit the Australian colonies hard, and McIlwraith lost a considerable amount of his own money. He resigned his seat in Parliament in
1895 and spent his remaining life attempting to recoup his losses. He died in
London on
17 July 1900.
The
Australian Dictionary of Biography
says:
» McIlwraith was a big man with big ideas, but his indifferent health didn't allow him to successfully carry the full burden of them. He was rugged and masterful, possibly on occasions not over-scrupulous, with a habit of getting his own way by sheer force of character rather than by intellectual ability. For nearly 25 years he was one of the greatest personalities in Queensland.
This domineering (and occasionally unscrupulous) style was to become a characteristic feature of many later Queensland premiers.
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