John Douglas

John Douglas
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1828–1904 · 76 years old

Born 6 March 1828 in London, EnglandDied 23 July 1904 in Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia

With his brother Edward and Thomas Hood, bought the 64,000-acre Talgai station on the Darling Downs in 1854, reportedly for GBP 50,000; the run had carried 20,900 sheep in 1853. He held Talgai until 1862. On 13 July 1860 he also bought six pastoral runs in the Port Curtis district - Tivoli, Borenia, Dundee, Montrose, Panuco and Tooloombah - collectively known as Tooloombah.

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Family

Partners

? Unknown spouse m. 1877 MS Mary Ann Simpson d. 1876

Children

ED Edward Archibald Douglas 1877–1947 HD Henry Alexander Cecil Douglas 1879–1952 HD Hugh Maxwell Douglas 1881–1918 RD Robert Johnstone Douglas 1883–1972

Places 21 locations

BirthWorkOtherDeath / burial

Timeline

1820s
Born 6 March 1828

London, England
1840s
15
Education (Rugby School) 1843–1847

Educated at Rugby School, Warwickshire, England, 1843-47, having earlier attended the Edinburgh Academy.

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1850s
22
Graduated (University of Durham) 1850

Graduated Bachelor of Arts at the University of Durham in 1850.

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26
Occupation (Pastoralist) 1854–1862

Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia

With his brother Edward and Thomas Hood, bought the 64,000-acre Talgai station on the Darling Downs in 1854, reportedly for GBP 50,000; the run had carried 20,900 sheep in 1853. He held Talgai until 1862. On 13 July 1860 he also bought six pastoral runs in the Port Curtis district - Tivoli, Borenia, Dundee, Montrose, Panuco and Tooloombah - collectively known as Tooloombah.

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31
Member for Darling Downs, New South Wales Legislative Assembly 5 July 1859 – 10 December 1859

New South Wales, Australia

Held one of the two Darling Downs seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving alongside William Handcock. He generally supported the premier, Charles Cowper.

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1860s
32
Member for Camden, New South Wales Legislative Assembly 21 December 1860 – 17 July 1861

New South Wales, Australia

Held the second seat for Camden in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly until he resigned on 17 July 1861.

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35
Member for Port Curtis, Queensland Legislative Assembly 14 June 1863 – 1 February 1866

Queensland, Australia

First Queensland seat, taken after he moved to Brisbane in 1863. He remained independent of the Herbert ministry, and resigned on 1 February 1866 in order to be appointed to the Legislative Council.

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37
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council 22 February 1866 – 25 July 1866

Queensland, Australia

Appointed to the Queensland Legislative Council on 22 February 1866, having resigned his Assembly seat for the purpose. He led the government in the Council during the Macalister ministry.

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37
Postmaster-General of Queensland 1 March 1866 – 20 July 1866

Queensland, Australia

Postmaster-General in the first Macalister ministry, having served as a minister without portfolio from 1 to 28 February 1866. He was at the same time leader of the government in the Legislative Council.

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38
Treasurer of Queensland 19 December 1866 – 21 May 1867

Queensland, Australia

Fifth Treasurer of Queensland, succeeding John Donald McLean and succeeded by Thomas Blacket Stephens.

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38
Member for Eastern Downs, Queensland Legislative Assembly 4 January 1867 – 18 September 1868

Queensland, Australia

Elected for Eastern Downs in 1867, succeeding John Donald McLean. As an advocate of the pro-agriculturist provisions of the 1867 land bill he attacked the practice of dummying on the Darling Downs and chaired a select committee on it.

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39
Secretary for Public Works, Queensland 21 May 1867 – 15 August 1867

Queensland, Australia

Took the public works portfolio directly on relinquishing the Treasury, holding it until 15 August 1867.

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40
Member for East Moreton, Queensland Legislative Assembly 28 September 1868 – 16 December 1868

Queensland, Australia

Brief tenure in the East Moreton seat, serving alongside Arthur Francis, between James Garrick and Henry Jordan.

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40
Member of the Queensland Legislative Council 11 December 1868 – 13 November 1869

Queensland, Australia

Second term in the Legislative Council, taken up as leader of the government under the Lilley ministry.

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40
Postmaster-General of Queensland 12 December 1868 – 13 November 1869

Queensland, Australia

Second term as Postmaster-General, in the Lilley ministry, held together with the leadership of the government in the Legislative Council.

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41
Agent-General for Queensland in England 15 September 1869 – 29 December 1870

London, England

Queensland's emigration agent and Agent-General in England at GBP 1000 a year. He advocated migration to Queensland, tried unsuccessfully to promote a telegraph cable from Java to Queensland, and made contacts at the Colonial Office before resigning after disagreements with the Palmer ministry.

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1870s
47
Member for Maryborough, Queensland Legislative Assembly 27 April 1875 – 24 November 1880

Queensland, Australia

Returned for Maryborough in April 1875 after unsuccessful contests for East Moreton, Brisbane and Darling Downs; served alongside Henry King. He held the seat throughout his premiership. In 1880 the Assembly found him guilty of a breach of privilege for sending select committee evidence to the Brisbane Courier before it was reported to parliament, and he refused to apologise.

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48
Secretary for Public Lands, Queensland 5 June 1876 – 8 March 1877

Queensland, Australia

Secretary for Public Lands in the Thorn ministry, and vice-president of the Executive Council. He introduced two bills that became the Crown Lands Alienation Act and the Settled Districts Pastoral Leases Act.

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48
Death of partner Mary Ann Simpson 23 November 1876
49
Premier of Queensland 8 March 1877 – 21 January 1879

Queensland, Australia

Seventh Premier of Queensland, replacing George Thorn and succeeded by Thomas McIlwraith. He kept the lands portfolio from 8 March to 7 November 1877 and then took the colonial secretaryship. Leading the Liberals against the Nationalists as his party lost support, he alienated voters by proposing to use land sale revenue to extend railways to the Gulf of Carpentaria, and found more support for his anti-Chinese legislation, keeping migrants out by quarantine regulations while the bill awaited royal assent.

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49
Colonial Secretary of Queensland 7 November 1877 – 21 January 1879

Queensland, Australia

Held the colonial secretaryship alongside the premiership for the second half of his term, after relinquishing the lands portfolio on 7 November 1877.

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49
Title (CMG) 1877

Appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1877, the year he became Premier.

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49
Married spouse not recorded 1877
49
Birth of son Edward Archibald Douglas 1877
51
Birth of son Henry Alexander Cecil Douglas 8 April 1879

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
1880s
53
Birth of son Hugh Maxwell Douglas 1881
55
Birth of son Robert Johnstone Douglas 1883
57
Government Resident and Police Magistrate, Thursday Island April 1885 – 23 July 1904

Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia

Offered the post in April 1885. In July he visited most of the islands of Torres Strait in his charge and accompanied Captain Everill's expedition up the Fly River in New Guinea. After the New Guinea commission he returned to Thursday Island in 1888 and, apart from a visit to Britain in 1902, remained in charge until his death there on 23 July 1904. He published Past and Present of Thursday Island and Torres Straits (Brisbane, 1900), and a memorial chapel was built in the cathedral on Thursday Island.

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57
Special Commissioner for the Protectorate of British New Guinea December 1885 – September 1888

New Guinea

Appointed after the death of Sir Peter Scratchley in December 1885 and in charge until the protectorate's annexation in September 1888. His policy followed Scratchley's and the spirit of J. E. Erskine's proclamation: to protect the Papuans while developing the island for Europeans. He had few defined powers, and his campaign for financial support from the Australian colonies was unsuccessful. He was not chosen for the permanent appointment.

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1900s
76
Died 23 July 1904

Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia