# Thomas McIlwraith

Thomas McIlwraith (17 MAY 1835 – 17 JUL 1900); born in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland; married Harriett Ann Mosman; parent of 1 child; died in Kensington, London, England.

**Lifespan:** 17 MAY 1835 – 17 JUL 1900

## Spouses
- [Harriett Ann Mosman](/p/harriett-ann-mosman-64921.md) — m. 14 FEB 1879
- _unknown partner_ — m. 6 JUN 1863

## Children
- [Lelia Harriet McIlwraith](/p/lelia-harriet-mcilwraith-64926.md)

## Timeline
- 17 MAY 1835 — **Born** at Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland
- FROM 1851 TO 1854 — **Education (University of Glasgow)** at Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland — Enrolled at the University of Glasgow in 1851 at the age of 16, the first of his family to do so. He studied Greek, Logic and Ethics and excelled in Mathematics across the 1852 to 1854 academic years, but did not graduate and instead sailed for Victoria, Australia in 1854. He had earlier attended Wallacetown Academy and, in his final schooling years, Ayr Academy.
- FROM 1854 — **Occupation (Railway engineer and contractor)** at Victoria, Australia — After mining at Bendigo he worked in the Victorian railway department as a surveyor and engineer on the Melbourne-Port and Geelong-Ballarat lines. He was a partner in Cornish & Bruce and profited from the Melbourne-Bendigo railway, and in 1860 was engaged by the contractor J. V. A. Bruce on that line, which included the Big Hill tunnel. In a dispute with the Victorian government he represented his employers and attracted public attention.
- FROM 1864 — **Occupation (Pastoralist)** at Maranoa, Queensland, Australia — Took up eight runs in the Maranoa district of Queensland with his lifelong managing partner Joseph C. Smyth. Troubled by drought, breeding problems and low prices, McIlwraith & Smyth lost some of their runs; he responded by exchanging sheep stations for cattle runs and by seeking more British and Melbourne capital. In the early 1880s he incorporated all but one of his many stations in the Darling Downs and Western Land Co., the North Australian Pastoral Co. and the Queensland Investment and Land Mortgage Co., in order to live as a financier and deploy his capital more flexibly.
- FROM JAN 1870 TO 9 SEP 1871 — **Member for Warrego, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Returned for Warrego at a by-election in January 1870, having told a sceptical audience at Roma in 1869 that the west could not prosper without a railway. He resigned the seat on 9 September 1871 because of business problems.
- FROM 25 NOV 1873 TO NOV 1878 — **Member for Maranoa, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Returned for Maranoa on 25 November 1873. His campaign for a trunk railway to Roma led to his appointment as secretary for public works and mines on 8 January 1874. He held the seat until the general election of November 1878, when he won the new seat of Mulgrave.
- FROM 8 JAN 1874 TO 1874 — **Secretary for Public Works and Mines, Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Appointed secretary for public works and mines in the Macalister ministry on 8 January 1874 after campaigning for a trunk railway to Roma. As minister he first proposed a land-grant railway from Roma to the Gulf of Carpentaria; that proposal enabled Samuel Griffith, then attorney-general, to force him out of office, and he lost the works portfolio in 1874.
- FROM NOV 1878 TO JUN 1886 — **Member for Mulgrave, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Won the new seat of Mulgrave at the general election of November 1878. He lost office as premier in November 1883 and, faced by temporary business difficulties, retired from politics in June 1886.
- FROM 21 JAN 1879 TO NOV 1883 — **Premier of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Formed his first government on 21 January 1879, holding the Treasury himself. His Divisional Boards Act of 1879 was the most comprehensive local-government measure in Australia, giving local governments unparalleled autonomy but forcing rural areas to carry the financial burden of local works. His railway policy meant Queensland built more trunk lines than any other colony. Development pursued by the government and by the Queensland National Bank, in which he was deeply involved, helped attract £12,500,000 of private investment, large government loans and 26,685 immigrants in 1883. He lost the 1883 election after insisting on a land-grant railway from Charleville to the Gulf of Carpentaria and proposing to introduce Indian indentured labour for the sugar plantations; his following was reduced to eighteen and Griffith became premier in November 1883.
- FROM 21 JAN 1879 TO JAN 1882 — **Colonial Treasurer of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Held the Treasury from the formation of his first government on 21 January 1879. He promised to raise capital for trunk railway lines west from Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville, and visited London from October 1879 to June 1880 to investigate the agent-general's office, fix a loan figure, negotiate with a cable company and finalise railway and shipping contracts. In January 1882 he passed the Treasury to Archibald Archer and took the colonial secretaryship.
- 1882 — **Title (KCMG)** — Appointed K.C.M.G. in 1882 while premier of Queensland.
- FROM JAN 1882 TO NOV 1883 — **Colonial Secretary of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Became colonial secretary in January 1882 on the resignation of Arthur Hunter Palmer, passing the Treasury to Archibald Archer. He held the office until his government fell and Griffith became premier in November 1883.
- 4 APR 1883 — **Annexation of eastern New Guinea** at New Guinea — Concerned that the German government was planning to annex eastern New Guinea to Queensland's north, McIlwraith attempted to annex it for Queensland, employing Henry Chester to proclaim the Queen's sovereignty on 4 April 1883. The annexation was disallowed by the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Derby, on the ground that a colonial government had no authority to annex other colonies. Indignation at the decision brought about the Intercolonial Convention of November and December 1883, a first step in the federation movement, and the establishment of the Federal Council of Australasia in 1884; a British protectorate over the southern coast of eastern New Guinea was proclaimed on 6 November 1884.
- FROM 5 MAY 1888 TO 5 JUN 1896 — **Member for Brisbane North, Queensland Legislative Assembly** at Queensland, Australia — Returned to parliament at the general election of May 1888 as a member for the Brisbane North (North Brisbane) electorate, a multi-member seat he held until 1896.
- FROM 13 JUN 1888 TO 30 NOV 1888 — **Premier of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Second term as premier. At the general election of May 1888 he won North Brisbane and led a new National party to victory. He sought in vain to discredit the first Labor member, Thomas Glassey, and in September 1888 emerged victorious from a constitutional battle with Governor Sir Anthony Musgrave over the prerogative of mercy. By November ill health had forced him to resign the premiership to B. D. Morehead; after a trip to Japan he quarrelled with his colleagues over William Pattison's undue influence and resigned from the ministry on 14 September 1889.
- FROM AUG 1890 TO MAR 1893 — **Colonial Treasurer of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — In August 1890 he joined his long-standing rival Samuel Griffith as colonial treasurer in the coalition known as 'the Griffilwraith'. He represented Queensland at the National Convention in 1891, though he favoured only a limited form of federation. He left the Treasury when Griffith went to the Supreme Court in March 1893.
- FROM MAR 1893 TO OCT 1893 — **Premier of Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — Became premier for the third time in March 1893, when Griffith left politics for the Supreme Court of Queensland. His health was poor and he resigned the premiership in October 1893 in favour of Hugh Nelson.
- FROM OCT 1893 TO 29 MAR 1895 — **Chief Secretary and Secretary for Railways, Queensland** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — After resigning the premiership in October 1893 he served as chief secretary and secretary for railways until 29 March 1895, although he had left for England on 15 January 1895. Despite his absence and lack of a seat he was then appointed minister without portfolio, until on 25 November 1897 the Legislative Assembly resolved that he should retire from the ministry; he resigned from the Executive Council on 9 December 1897.
- 1896 — **Queensland National Bank inquiry** at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia — McIlwraith had been a director of the Queensland National Bank until 1879 and used its resources for his large speculations in 1884-90. In 1893 the bank was saved from collapse only by government assistance. After the Queensland National Bank Agreement Act was passed in 1896 a committee investigated its affairs; the report, delayed three months by his refusal on grounds of ill health to return for examination, revealed mismanagement amounting almost to corruption. He was alleged to owe the bank over £251,000 against security of only £60,700, with a further £77,000 written off as irrecoverable. He complained bitterly that the report was published without his defence; his financial reputation was ruined and even the conservative Brisbane Courier condemned him.
- 1900 — **Buried** at Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland — Buried at Ayr, Scotland, his birthplace, following his death in London on 17 July 1900. Wikidata records the place of burial as Ayr Cemetery.
- 17 JUL 1900 — **Died** at Kensington, London, England

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