Thomas McIlwraith
Thomas MacDonald-Paterson | |
---|---|
Personal details | |
Born | Ayr, Scotland | 17 May 1835
Died | 17 July 1900 London, England | (aged 65)
Political party | Ministerialist |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Whannell (1863–1877) Harriette Ann Mosman (1879–1900) |
Sir Thomas McIlwraith
Early life
Thomas McIlwraith was born in
McIlwraith studied civil engineering at the University of Glasgow.[5]
Australia
McIlwraith's brother John's success in
He retained close relations with his brother John, and on 6 June 1863 married Margaret Whannell, sister of John's wife. They had three daughters, Jessie (b. 1866), Mary (b. 1868) and Blanche (b. 1872). He eventually moved to Queensland, but Margaret was reluctant to live in isolated Merivale station. In 1871 she visited Merivale, but soon returned to Melbourne for Blanche's birth. In 1874 they decided to live in Brisbane. Thomas found that she was drinking heavily, and sent her to Scotland where she died in 1877. McIlwraith fathered an illegitimate daughter in Victoria. In 1877 McIlwraith was a founding partner of the North Australian Pastoral Company.[8] In 1879 he married Harriette Ann née Mosman. Harriette was the sister of Hugh Mosman, who discovered gold in Charters Towers, and Cecilia Mosman, wife of his political colleague Arthur Palmer (also Premier of Queensland);[9][10] she gave birth to his fourth legitimate daughter in 1881.
Parliamentary career
While working for J V A Bruce,[7] he represented his employers in a dispute with the Victorian government, and attracted public attention. In 1864 he contested the Sandhurst seat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly but won few votes as a free trader.
McIlwraith was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the seat of Maranoa in 1868.
He 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
The Australian colonies were extremely anxious about
In 1883 a government proposal to raise funds for the construction of a transcontinental
McIlwraith returned to stand for Parliament in 1888, this time as member for
After his return McIlwraith's relationship with his colleagues deteriorated, and in August 1890 he formed an alliance (later known as the "
The Dictionary of Australian of Biography[5] says:
- McIlwraith was a big man with big ideas, but his indifferent health did not 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.
After politics
Since 1888 the London directors of McIlwraith's Queensland Investment and Land Mortgage Co. had complained about the practices of the local board, and in 1892 they charged McIlwraith, Palmer and two others with fraud. The remaining years of his life were surrounded in financial scandal and large financial losses by institutions that he was involved with.
Although McIlwraith left for England on 15 January 1895, he was still a minister of the Queensland cabinet until 25 November 1897 when the Labor Party with government support succeeded in passing a resolution that he should retire. On 9 December he resigned from the Executive Council.
McIlwraith's aspirations for political integration of the Australian colonies centred on the Federal Council of Australasia, and he actively sought the entry of New South Wales into this body. In the 1899 referendum on the creation of a Commonwealth of Australia he urged Queenslanders to vote No to placing Queensland in the "hands of men unacquainted with the past, and who cannot in full share our hopes for the future".[15]
McIlwraith died in London on 17 July 1900 and was buried at Ayr.[1]
Legacy
The following places were named after him:
- McIlwraith, Queensland, a locality in the Bundaberg Region[16]
- Cook Shire[17]
State Library of Queensland currently holds the Sir Thomas McIlwraith Papers 1839-1897 which contains legal documents, correspondence, accounts, financial records and telegrams relating to McIlwraith.[18]
See also
- Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1868–1870; 1870–1871; 1873–1878; 1878–1883; 1883–1888; 1888–1893; 1893–1896
Notes
- ^ a b
Dignan, Don. "McIlwraith, Sir Thomas (1835–1900)". ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- ^ J. Ann Hone, 'McIlwraith, John (1828–1902)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp. 160–161. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ D. B. Waterson, 'McIlwraith, Andrew (1844–1932)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp. 282–283. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ David Dunstan, 'McEacharn, Sir Malcolm Donald (1852–1910)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp. 263–264. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ a b Percival Searle, McIlwraith, Sir Thomas (1835–1900), Dictionary of Australian of Biography, Angus and Robertson, 1949. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ John Maxwell, 'Cornish, William Crocker (1815–1859)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, p. 464. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ a b John Maxwell, 'Bruce, John Vans Agnew (1822–1863)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 3, Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 277–278. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- ^ "The North Australian Pastoral Company Pty Ltd". NAPCO. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- ^ J. X. Jobson, 'Palmer, Sir Arthur Hunter (1819–1898)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp. 390–392. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.
- The Brisbane Courier. National Library of Australia. 16 November 1909. p. 4. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- ^ Mennell, Philip (1892). . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ Brisbane Courier 15 November 1884 page 4&5 & Brisbane Courier 23 Dec 1884, page 4.
- ^ William Coleman,Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914, Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p. 379.
- Wikidata Q107340736.
- ^ William Coleman,Their Fiery Cross of Union. A Retelling of the Creation of the Australian Federation, 1889-1914, Connor Court, Queensland, 2021, p.33.
- ^ "McIlwraith (entry 44741)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- ^ "McIlwraith Range (entry 21393)". Queensland Place Names. Queensland Government. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- ^ "Sir Thomas McIlwraith Papers 1839-1897". State Library of Queensland. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
References
- Joyce R. B. & Murphy, D. J. (Ed.): Queensland Political Portraits, St Lucia (University of Queensland Press), 1978.
Further reading
- Beanland, Denver (2007), "PhD thesis", Queensland Caesar: Sir Thomas McIlwraith (PDF), School of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Classics, University of Queensland
External links
- Media related to Thomas McIlwraith at Wikimedia Commons