William Shiels

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William Shiels
16th Premier of Victoria
In office 16 February 1892 – 23 January 1893
Preceded by	James Munro
Succeeded by	James Patterson
Personal details
Born	3 December 1848 Maghera, County Londonderry, Ireland
Died	17 December 1904(1904-12-17) (aged 56) Struan House, Naracoorte, South Australia
Nationality	Australian
Spouse	Jane

William Shiels (3 December 1848 – 17 December 1904) was an Australian colonial-era politician, serving as the 16th Premier of Victoria.

Shiels was born in

reform.

Shiels was elected to the

between 1887 and 1891. As a result, when Munro suddenly resigned in the face of imminent bankruptcy in February 1892, the liberals turned to Shiels as a "clean" new leader, and he became Premier.

The Shiels government responded to the financial disaster of the 1892 crash in the orthodox fashion of the time, cutting spending and increasing taxation to balance the budget – measures which only made the situation worse. The conservatives who had supported the coalition governments of Duncan Gillies and Munro opposed increased taxation, and during 1892 they deserted Shiels. In January 1893 the conservative leader James Patterson moved a successful no-confidence motion, and Shiels resigned.

Shiels stayed in politics and kept his reputation for integrity. He was Treasurer under Allan McLean (1899–1900) and William Irvine (1902–1903) and Minister for Railways (1903–1904). In 1904, however, his health broke down and he retired to rural South Australia shortly before his death, aged only 56. Shiels is buried at Struan House which is located on the Riddoch HWY 10 km out of Naracoorte in South Australia's South East.

Notes

Bibliography

• 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). "Shiels, William". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.

Parliament of Victoria
Preceded by William Tytherleigh	Member for Normanby 1880–1904	Succeeded by Electorate abolished

Preceded by James Munro

Premier of Victoria 1892–1893

Succeeded by James Patterson