Arthur Hunter Palmer

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Samuel Griffith
Preceded byNew seat
Succeeded byWilliam Brookes
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council
In office
24 December 1881 – 20 March 1898
Personal details
Born(1819-12-28)28 December 1819
Toowong, Brisbane,
Queensland
Resting placeToowong Cemetery
SpouseCecilia Jessie Mosman (d. 1885)
RelationsHugh Mosman (brother-in-law), Henry Palmer (brother)

Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer

KCMG (28 December 1819 – 20 March 1898) was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the fifth Premier of Queensland, in office from 1870 to 1874. He later held ministerial office in Thomas McIlwraith's ministry from 1879 to 1881, before serving as President of the Queensland Legislative Council
from 1881 until his death in 1898.

Early life

Palmer was born in Armagh, Ireland, the son of Lieutenant Arthur Palmer, RN, and his wife, Emily (née Hunter).[1]

Palmer was educated at

New England stations, eventually becoming general manager of all Dangar's holdings. Palmer went to Queensland and took up pastoral runs in the Belyando River valley which he called Beaufort Station. He began acting as a magistrate in 1865.[1]

Politics

In 1866, Palmer was elected to Parliament as member for

R. R. Mackenzie ministry, and in September 1868 Secretary for Public Lands. Mackenzie resigned on 25 November 1868 and Palmer went into opposition. On 3 May 1870 Palmer became Premier and Colonial Secretary,[3] and in July 1873 Secretary for Public Works. Palmer's ministry was defeated on 6 January 1874. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, "Palmer cannot be said to have been instrumental in producing much legislation". However, his ministry was known for his cohesiveness, an atypical quality in the colonial period, and it survived two general elections. During an economic depression in 1870, Palmer authorised a civil-service retrenchment, which proved unpopular. Successful bills included the Electoral Redistribution Act, which divided the colony into single-member electoral districts based on population, and the Homestead Areas Act, which divided large pastoral leases into smaller areas of land.[1]

Palmer was Colonial Secretary and

Secretary for Public Instruction in the McIlwraith ministry which came into power in January 1879, but resigned these positions on 24 December 1881 to become President of the Queensland Legislative Council. Palmer remained in that position until his death.[2]

Palmer served as

Lieutenant-Governor of Queensland from 15 November 1895 to 9 April 1896.[4]

Later life

He died at Easton Gray, his home in

Toowong, Queensland after a long illness[5] and was buried in Toowong Cemetery.[6]

Family

Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer's headstone at Brisbane's Toowong Cemetery

In 1865, Palmer married Miss Cecilia Jessie Mosman. Cecilia was the sister of

Fernberg in Paddington, which became Queensland's Government House in 1910.[8] Cecilia died in 1885, and was survived by three sons and two daughters.[9]

The family home, Easton Gray, was sold in 1944 for the construction of Toowong State High School, later Toowong College, and now the Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology.[10]

His grandson Beaufort Palmer was one of Australia's finest pilot instructors in World War II.[11]

Honours

Palmer was awarded a KCMG in 1881.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 1833-7538
    . Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Arthur Hunter Palmer". Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "Former Members". Parliament of Queensland. 2015. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. Queensland Parliament. 2014. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  5. The Brisbane Courier
    . 21 March 1898. p. 5. Retrieved 28 January 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Palmer Sir Arthur Hunter Archived 5 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine – Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  7. The Brisbane Courier
    . 16 November 1909. p. 4. Retrieved 22 June 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Government House (entry 600275)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  9. The Brisbane Courier
    . 1 September 1885. p. 4. Retrieved 23 January 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "State High School for Toowong Area". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 7 February 1944. p. 3. Archived from the original on 3 March 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ Coleman, Mike. "Obituary: Beaufort Mosman Hunter Palmer, DFC". The Courier Mail. Brisbane. p. 95. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.

Sources

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Political offices
Preceded by Premier of Queensland
1870–1874 		Succeeded by
Parliament of Queensland
Preceded by Member for Port Curtis
1866–1878 		Succeeded by
New seat Member for
Samuel Griffith
 		Succeeded by
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