The 1900s
A Forgotten Turning Point in Queensland History
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1321816600003561Keywords:
1900s, developmental political culture, Philp government (1899–1903), problems of Federation, domestic recession, electoral, industrial and education reformsAbstract
Queensland politics during the first decade after Federation is a subject which has received little attention from historians and political scientists. In general, they have shown a marked lack of enthusiasm for the era, preferring to rush on to the period after 1915 — the year in which Queensland Labor formed its first viable, long-term government. In this essay, I propose to show that the 1900s was in fact an important turning point in Queensland history. I will show how the almost exclusively developmental political culture of Queensland was successfully challenged by Liberal and Labor parliamentary forces when the Philp government (1899–1903) could not respond adequately to the problems of Federation and domestic recession. I shall also demonstrate that the tentative steps towards social intervention made by Queensland governments during 1903–15 reflected a significant change in political attitudes within a parliament which had traditionally concentrated on supporting capitalist-orientated development. The moderate electoral, industrial and education reforms offered during the 1900s paved the way for the more radical state interventions offered by subsequent Labor administrations between 1915 and 1957.
References
Research on 1900s Queensland politics mainly deals with the Labor Party's evolving structure and organisation. See Fitzgerald, Ross Thornton, Harold, Labor in Queensland: From the 1880s to 1988 (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1989); Murphy, D. J., Joyce, R. B. Hughes, Colin A. (eds), Prelude to Power: The Rise of the Labour Party in Queensland 1885–1915 (Milton: Jacaranda, 1970).
The long period of Labor rule (1915–57) was briefly interrupted by the conservative Moore government of 1929–32.
See Lyndon Thomas Megarrity, Robert Philp and the Politics of Development in Queensland 1890–1903 (unpublished PhD thesis, University of New England, Armidale, 2001).
Brisbane Courier, 23 August 1902.
Philp, Robert (Minister for Mines), Queensland Parliamentary Debates [hereafter QPD], Vol. LXXI, 26 July 1894: 145.
Knox, B. A., The Honourable Sir Arthur Morgan, Kt. — His Public Life and Works (BA thesis, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 1956): 54–56. For the evolution of parliamentary politics in Queensland in the nineteenth century, see R. B. Joyce, ‘Queensland’, in The Emergence of the Australian Party System, eds P. Loveday, A. W. Martin and R. S. Parker (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1977): 119–40.
Several Ministerialists favoured the personally popular Robert Philp rather than Dickson as a Premier. Dickson's support for Federation had also led to a drop of support among Southeast Queensland Members of Parliament, who feared that interstate free trade under a Federated Australia would commercially disadvantage Queensland: John William Justin Harding, Crises, Deadlocks and Dissolutions: A Constitutional and Parliamentary History of Queensland 1859–1922 (PhD thesis, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, 1997): 256–61; Lieutenant-Governor S. W. Griffith to Colonial Secretary, 4 January 1900, in Great Britain Colonial Office: Queensland Original Correspondence, CO 234/70, held at Public Records Office, Joint Copying Project.
Labor held 21 seats after the March 1899 Queensland election; the party subsequently picked up another seat in a by-election held on 22 July. After the defeat of the Dawson government, Labor ended the year with 24 seats following two further by-elections (held on 16 December and 23 December): Colin A. Hughes and B. D. Graham, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890–1964 (Canberra: ANU Press, 1968): 506–8.
Fitzgerald, Ross, Seven Days to Remember: The World's First Labor Government: Queensland 1–7 December 1899 (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1999): 35–46.
A key member of the Ministerialist government since 1893, Robert Philp (MLA Musgrave 1886–88, MLA Townsville 1888–1915) had experience in several portfolios including Public Instruction, Mines, Public Works, Railways and the Treasury. A discussion of his political career as a minister can be found in G. C. Bolton, ‘Robert Philp: Capitalist as Politician’, in Queensland Political Portraits 1859–1952, eds Murphy, D. J. Joyce, R. B. (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978). For details on Philp's early years in Queensland, see Lyndon Megarrity, ‘Robert Philp: North Queensland Pioneer’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland 18 (2) 2002.
Philp, Robert (Premier), Queensland Parliamentary Debates, Vol. LXXXIII, 7 December 1899, p. 1184.
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Progress, 17 November 1900. Progress was set up to express the views of the Progressive League, which espoused policies of democratic reform, among others. See Progress, 4 February 1899.
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Webber, John (MLC), QPD, Vol. LXXXIV, 17 July 1900, pp. 7–8; ‘Report of the Officer in Charge, Government Labour Bureau and Relief, for 1899’, Queensland Votes & Proceedings, Vol. 5, 1900, p. 689; William Hamilton (MLA Gregory), QPD, Vol. XCI, 4 August 1903, p. 176.
Hall, A. R., The London Capital Market and Australia 1870–1914 (Canberra: Australian National University, 1963): 171; Anon., Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress (Brisbane, 1909): 46–47; Robert Philp (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 22 July 1902, p. 79.
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Métin, Albert, Socialism Without Doctrine, trans. Russel Ward (Sydney: Southwood, 1977): 54, 67; D. W. Rawson, ‘Victoria’, in The Emergence of the Australian Party System, eds P. Loveday, A. W. Martin and R. S. Parker (Sydney: Hale and Iremonger, 1977): 76.
Fitzpatrick, Brian, Short History of the Australian Labor Movement, 2nd edn (South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1968): 151.
Macintyre, Stuart, ‘Neither Capital Nor Labour: The Politics of the Establishment of Arbitration’, in Macintyre, Stuart Mitchell, Richard (eds), Foundations of Arbitration: The Origins and Effects of State Compulsory Arbitration 1890–1914 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1989): 178–98; Docker, ‘Can the Centre Hold?': 57–65.
See the editors’ introduction in Queensland Political Portraits 1859–1952, eds Murphy, D. J. and Joyce, R. B. (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1978): 1–7.
Bernays, C. A., Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859–1919) Years (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1919): 428, 473–76.
Crowley, Frank, Big John Forrest 1847–1918: A Founding Father of the Commonwealth of Australia (Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 2000): 258.
Jackson, George (MLA Kennedy), QPD, Vol. XCI, 5 August 1903, p. 222; Vincent Lesina (MLA Clermont), QPD, Vol. XCI, 30 July 1903, p. 141; John Burrows (MLA Charters Towers), QPD, Vol. XCI, 4 August 1903, p. 181; Worker, 8 September 1900.
See Megarrity, Lyndon, ‘“Don't You Think They Know Their Business Best?” The Failure of Private Railway Companies in Late Colonial Queensland’, Journal of Australian Colonial History, 2 (2), 2000.
Lees, Kirsten, Votes for Women: The Australian Story (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1995): 101.
O'Sullivan, Thomas, ‘Reminiscences of the Queensland Parliament 1903–1915’, n.d. (circa. 1939?), unpublished manuscript held at the John Oxley Library, Accession no. 2916, p. 5.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. XCI, 6 August 1903, p. 261.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIV, 16 August 1900, p. 393.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIV, 16 August 1900, p. 393.
Lesina, Vincent (MLA Clermont), QPD, Vol. XCI, 30 July 1903, p. 141.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. XCI, 6 August 1903, p. 261.
Philp, Robert, election speech 1902, refd in Harry C. Perry, Memoirs of the Hon. Sir Robert Philp 1851–1922 (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1923): 241.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 23 September 1902, p. 615.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 23 September 1902, p. 614; Robert Philp (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 10 July 1902, p. 26; John Leahy (Minister for Railways), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 23 September 1902, p. 618; ‘Report of the Officer in Charge, Government Labour and Relief, for 1901', Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 1, 1902, p. 1181.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 10 July 1902, p. 26.
Philp, Robert (Premier), QPD, Vol. LXXXIX, 23 September 1902, p. 615.
See, for example, Lesina, Vincent (MLA Clermont), QPD, Vol. XCI, 30 July 1903, pp. 103–6; John Burrows (MLA Charters Towers), QPD, Vol. XCI, 4 August 1903, p. 187; Charles McDonald (MLA Flinders), QPD, Vol. LXXXIV, 16 August 1900, pp. 387–92.
Worker, 23 June 1900.
O'Sullivan, , ‘Reminiscences of the Queensland Parliament 1903–1915’, p. 2.
Browne, William (MLA Croydon), QPD, Vol. XCI, 22 July 1903, p. 31.
Cowley, Alfred (MLA Herbert), QPD, Vol. XCI. 13 August 1903, p. 299.
Knox, B. A., The Honourable Sir Arthur Morgan, Kt. — His Public Life and Works (BA thesis, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 1956): 53.
Jackson, George (MLA Kennedy), QPD, Vol. LXXXVIII, 21 November 1901, p. 1972.
Crook, D. P., ‘The Crucible — Labour in Coalition 1903–7’, in Murphy et al. (eds), Prelude to Power: 57.
Murphy, D. J., ‘William Kidston: A Tenacious Reformer’, in Murphy and Joyce (eds), Queensland Political Portraits 1859–1952: 236.
Warwick Argus, 24 January 1903, quoted in D. J. Murphy, ‘William Kidston: A Tenacious Reformer’, in Murphy and Joyce (eds), Queensland Political Portraits 1859–1952: 238.
Warwick Argus, 8 March 1902, quoted in B. A. Knox, The Honourable Sir Arthur Morgan, Kt. — His Public Life and Works (BA thesis, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 1956): 69.
Hamilton, William (Gregory), QPD, Vol. XCI, 4 August 1903, p. 176.
See Jackson, George (MLA Kennedy), QPD, Vol. XCI 5 August 1903, p. 222.
Brisbane Courier, 10 September 1903.
See QPD, Vol. XCI, 8 September 1903, p. 503.
Johnston, W. Ross, ‘Hawthorn. Arthur George Clarence (1859–1934)’, in Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol. 9: 1891–1939 Gil–Las (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1983): 236.
See Progress, 17 November 1900.
Johnston, W. Ross, ‘Hawthorn, Arthur George Clarence (1859–1934)’, in Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol. 9: 1891–1939 Gil–Las: 236; D. B. Waterson, ‘Joshua Thomas Bell: Queensland and the Darling Downs 1889–1911’, Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, 12 (2), 1985: 246; C. A. Bernays, Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859–1919) Years (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1919): 129–30.
O'Sullivan, Thomas (MLC), QPD, Vol. XCIII, 19 October 1904, p. 425.
Murphy, D. J., ‘William Kidston: A Tenacious Reformer': 244.
Wanka, K. J., William Kidston: A Political Biography (BA (Hons) thesis, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 1962): 10–12.
O'Connor, Terry, A Political History of Queensland (Brisbane, 1996): 270; G. C. Bolton, ‘Robert Philp: Capitalist as Politician’, in Murphy and Joyce (eds), Queensland Political Portraits 1859–1952: 216.
For details of legislation in this period, see Bernays, Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859–1919) Years: 477–79; Story, ‘Industrial Relations 1859–1914’, in People, Places and Policies: Aspects of Queensland Government Administration 1859–1920: 240.
Hughes, Colin A., ‘Labor in the Electorates’, in Labor in Power: The Labor Party and Governments in Queensland 1915–57, eds Murphy, D. J., Joyce, R. B. Hughes, Colin A. (eds) (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1980): 61.
Scott, Ann and Gillespie, Ros, ‘Education 1859–1914’, in People, Places and Policies: Aspects of Queensland Government Administration 1859–1920, eds Cohen, Kay Wiltshire, Kenneth (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1995): 210; J. R. Lawry, ‘Education’, in Murphy et al. (eds), Labor in Power: 356.
Drew, Michael, ‘Queensland Mining Statutes 1859–1930’, in Readings in North Queensland Mining History Vol. 2, ed. Kennedy, K. H. (Townsville: James Cook University, 1982): 146.
‘Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Health Conditions in Queensland Mines’, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Vol. 3, 1911–12, pp. 539–43 and 922–25.
Bernays, Queensland Politics During Sixty (1859–1919) Years: 483.
See Morrison, A. A., ‘The Brisbane General Strike of 1912', in Murphy et al. (eds), Prelude to Power: 128–39.
Hunt, Doug, ‘The Ravenswood Strike’, in Lectures on North Queensland History No. 4, B. J. Dalton (ed.) (Townsville: James Cook University, 1984): 168.
Murphy, D. J., ‘State Enterprises’, in Murphy et al. feds), Labor in Power: 140–45; Ross Fitzgerald, From 1915 to the Early 1980s: A History of Queensland (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1984): 49–50.
A notable result of Labor's ideological commitment to the bush was that the financially crippled Chillagoe Company was able to sell its assets to the Queensland government for some £700 000 in 1918: K. H. Kennedy, ‘Mining’, in Murphy. (eds), Labor in Power: 284–85. Most of the state enterprises had been dismantled by the early 1930s. Apart from rare success stories such as the State Insurance Office (later the State Government Insurance Office), the enterprises suffered heavy losses. Falls in postwar prices, poor management and the tendency of the government to buy properties at inflated prices all combined to destroy the state enterprise experiment: D. J. Murphy, ‘State Enterprises’, in Murphy . (eds), Labor in Power: 145–47; W. Ross Johnston, The Call of the Land (Milton: Jacaranda, 1982): 162.
