Premier of Queensland from 3 May 1870 to 7 January 1874 aged 50
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Fifth Premier of Queensland, also holding the office of Colonial Secretary. Governor Blackall asked him to form a government when Charles Lilley's ministry fell in May 1870. His ministry survived general elections in September 1870, September 1871 and December 1873. Measures passed under it included the Electoral Redistribution Act, which divided the colony into single-member electorates on the basis of population, and a Homestead Areas Act providing for the resumption of runs in the Darling Downs and Moreton districts for closer settlement. An economic depression in 1870 led him again to adopt a retrenchment policy, which was unpopular with city dwellers. In June 1873 he introduced, as a private member, a bill for free, compulsory and wholly state-supported education; it failed at the second reading with most of his own colleagues voting against it, and he resigned. He was defeated when parliament assembled on 6 January 1874. He was preceded as Premier by Charles Lilley and succeeded by Arthur Macalister.