William Murray McPherson

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Sir William McPherson
KBE
31st Premier of Victoria
In office
22 November 1928 – 12 December 1929
Preceded byEdmond Hogan
Succeeded byEdmond Hogan
Personal details
Born(1865-09-17)17 September 1865
Nationalist Party of Australia
SpouseEmily Jackson

Sir William Murray McPherson, KBE (17 September 1865 – 26 July 1932) was an Australian philanthropist and politician. He was the 31st Premier of Victoria.

Early life and philanthropy

He was born in

RMIT University). He also funded the Jessie McPherson section (named for his mother) of the now-demolished Queen Victoria Hospital. His son, W.E.McPherson, donated Invergowrie House to the Headmistresses’ Association that created a hostel for girls in 1933.[1] May Isabella Weatherly moved the homecraft hostel there to train future homemakers.[2]

Politics

McPherson was elected to the

1923 Victorian Police strike. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(KBE) in 1923 for service as Treasurer.

Premier of Victoria

McPherson as premier

In 1927 McPherson succeeded

Labor Party government, which had lost the support of the independent members who were keeping it in office, and as a result he became Premier. His Cabinet included two bright young Nationalist politicians who were destined for higher things: Robert Menzies and Wilfrid Kent Hughes
. But in July 1929 both these men joined a Cabinet revolt over McPherson's uncharacteristic agreement to offer an open-ended subsidy to rural meat-freezing works (this was a bid to win over rural independent MPs).

As a result of this and similar examples of unsustained government spending to buy off rural interest groups, Victoria by 1929 had amassed a public debt of over a million pounds, a huge amount at the time. This provoked McPherson into proposing cuts to public spending, which in turn led the country members who held the balance of power to withdraw their support from McPherson's government. As a result, he called an election at which the Nationalists won 17 seats and the

Country Party
11, while Labor won 30, with seven independents.

Later life

McPherson's grave at Boroondara General Cemetery

McPherson refused to resign, but was defeated in a vote of no confidence when the new Parliament met in December. Hogan then formed a new government. McPherson resigned as Nationalist leader, and from politics, in August 1930. A

by-election for his seat was held on 27 September 1930
.

He died suddenly in July 1932, aged 66, and was buried at Boroondara General Cemetery.

References

  1. ^ Redman, Elizabeth (12 October 2022). "Behind the gates of a once-secret $40.5m historic Hawthorn mansion". The Age. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  2. ^ Ronald, Heather B., "May Isabella Weatherly (1868–1950)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 5 May 2024
  • Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900–84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
  • Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
  • Kate White, John Cain and Victorian Labour 1917–1957, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney, 1982
  • Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856–1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992
Victorian Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Hawthorn
1913–1930 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Treasurer of Victoria
1917–1923 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
1927–1928 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Premier of Victoria
1928–1929 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
1929–1930 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the
Nationalist Party
in Victoria
1927–1930 		Succeeded by
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