John Murray (Victorian politician)
John Murray | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 23rd Premier of Victoria | |
| In office 8 January 1909 – 18 May 1912 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Bent |
| Succeeded by | William Watt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 July 1851 Koroit, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Spouse | Alice Bateman |
John (Jack) Murray (8 July 1851 – 4 May 1916), Australian politician, was the 23rd premier of Victoria.
Biography
Murray was born near
Victoria. Murray attended Allansford National School and, from 1868, Henry Kemmis's Warrnambool Grammar School. Murray visited Britain when around 20 years of age and was horrified by the poverty he saw there; but returned to Victoria. Murray inherited the farm and lived there all his life. On 4 April 1888 Murray married Alice Jane Bateman at Warrnambool,[1]
eventually having six children.
In 1883 Murray opposed
Liberal Party
which opposed his free-spending policies. In January 1909 he successfully moved a motion of no-confidence in Bent's government and succeeded him as Premier, also becoming Chief Secretary and Minister for Labour.
Murray was chief secretary in 1902-04 and from 1909 formal chairman of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines.[1]
Although the
Labor Party won the 1910 federal elections, it remained much weaker in Victoria than in other states, and at the 1911 state elections Murray's Liberals were re-elected with 43 seats to Labor's 20. But conflict between rural and urban factions of the Liberal Party remained chronic, with the urban leader William Watt undermining Murray just as Murray had undermined Bent. By May 1912 Murray had had enough and resigned. He then accepted office as Chief Secretary in Watt's government from 1912 to 1913 and again from 1913 to 1915. Murray died in Warrnambool on 4 May 1916 after his trap-pony had bolted.[1]
Murray was physically a big man, good-natured and well-read, an excellent speaker who used humour and irony. An able administrator with a tendency to indolence, he was a good leader in the house, often turning the laugh against his opponents, and managing difficult measures with much tact and success.
References
- ^ a b c d
Geoffrey Serle, 'Murray, John (Jack) (1851–1916)', MUP, 1986, pp 644-645. Retrieved 2009-10-30
- Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
- Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
- Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
- Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992
- Serle, Percival (1949). "Murray, John". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
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