Godfrey Morgan (1 July 1875 – 29 August 1957) was an Australian journalist, politician, and farmer. He served on the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

from 1909 until 1938, first for the electoral district of Murilla and then for the electoral district of Dalby.

Biography

Godfrey Morgan was born on 29 July 1875 in Landsborough, Victoria, Australia, to Godrey Morgan, a newspaperman and printer, and Mary Elizabeth Morgan, née Williamson.Morgan, Godfrey (1875–1957)
– ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

''. Retrieved 12 January 2015. When Morgan was young his father began a newspaper at

Donald, Victoria Donald is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Richardson River, at the junction of Sunraysia Highway and Borung Highway, in the Shire of Buloke. At the , it had a population of 1,472. History The town is named after William Donald ...

, and when his father died in 1891, Morgan took over management of the paper. On 8 December 1896, he married Annie Jane Pace. In 1908, after the

government of Queensland The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the state Legislative Assembly, with the governo ...

requested settlers to come help fight a prickly pear infestation, the Morgan family moved to a 7000-acre plot of land named Arubial, on the

Condamine River The Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment that is part of the Murray-Darling Basin, drains the northern portion of the Darling Downs, an area of sub-coastal southern Queensland, Australia. The river is approximately 500 kilometres (3 ...

near Condamine. In 1909 Morgan was elected first to the Murilla Shire Council and then to the

, representing the seat of Murilla. When Murilla was abolished in 1935, he represented the seat Dalby till he was defeated by 57 votes in the 1938 state election. When A.E. Moore came to power in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, Morgan served as Secretary for Railways till 1932 and then as Minister for Transport till the government's defeat in the 1932 state election. Two of Morgan's sons, Godfrey Morgan Jnr and Methuen Morgan, also had an interest in politics. Godfrey Morgan Jnr, an Australasian amateur lightweight boxing champion, served as the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Murilla Shire from 1936 to 1946. He also served as the vice-president of the Queensland Local Government Association. He unsuccessfully contested for his father's old state seat of Dalby as the endorsed Country Party candidate in the 1941 Queensland state election. In 1971, he authored his autobiography entitled ''We are borne as a river: My first seventy years'' where among other things, he detailed his and his family's involvement in politics. Methuen Morgan was elected as a councillor on Murilla Shire Council in 1933, and became deputy chairman in 1943. He finally became chairman of Murilla Shire in 1946 and served in the position until 1958.

Later years

Morgan moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

after his 1938 election loss and died there in 1957. He was accorded a

State funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

and was cremated.

Legacy

The locality of Morganville in the North Burnett Region and the rural town of Glenmorgan in the

Western Downs Region Western Downs Region is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Queensland, Australia. The Western Downs Regional Council manages an area of , which is slightly smaller than Switzerland, although with a population of 34,467 ...

are named after him. A monument commemorating the achievements of Godfrey Morgan and his sons Godfrey Morgan Jnr and Methuen Morgan was officially unveiled at the Miles Historical Village on 3 September 1983 by Murilla Shire chairman Duncan Sturrock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Godrey 1875 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Australian farmers Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly People from Victoria (state)