Sir Walter Henry Lee KCMG (27 April 18741 June 1963) was an Australian politician and member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

. He was

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...

on three occasions: from 15 April 1916 to 12 August 1922; from 14 August 1923 to 25 October 1923; and from 15 March 1934 to 22 June 1934. Lee was born in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

's north-east, where he was educated to primary level at Longford State School. He joined his father's business, and later went into business with his brother as a wheelwright with Lee Bros. Lee was elected to the

at the 1909 election, representing the rural seat of Wilmot for the Anti-Socialist Party, which became the Tasmanian Liberal League and later the Nationalist Party. In 1915, Lee became

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

, and after the Liberals won 15 out of 30 seats at the 1916 election, Lee was sworn in as

(also serving as Minister for Education; and Chief Secretary until 1922). In spite of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the first term of Lee's government was relatively smooth, and as the Nationalist Party, they retained government in the 1919 election with a one-seat majority.Scott Bennett
Lee, Sir Walter Henry (1874–1963)
''

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 ...

'', Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 52–53. At the 1922 election, the emergence of the Country Party split the anti-Labor vote. With the Country Party holding the balance of power, but openly antagonistic towards him, Lee resigned as Premier (after a record term) and handed over to John Hayes, who was unanimously elected premier in a coalition government, with Lee as Treasurer.Scott Bennett
Hayes, John Blyth (1868–1956)
''

'', Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 239–240. Unable to resolve Tasmania's financial crisis, Hayes resigned after a year and Lee became premier again, but only for ten weeks, until he was defeated by a Labor no-confidence motion, and Labor's

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Australia, from 1932 until his death in 1939. He held office as the inaugural leader of the United Australia Par ...

became Premier. Lee became Premier for a third time in 1934, when as Deputy Premier he took over for

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourt ...

, who retired due to ill-health. His term lasted for three months, when Labor won the 1934 election, although he remained as Leader of the Opposition until July 1936. He would be the last non-Labor premier of Tasmania until 1969. He lost his seat in the 1946 election, where he ran as an Independent Liberal after failing to secure endorsement from the new

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He was knighted in the 1920 New Year Honours and appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in the 1922 New Year Honours.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Walter 1874 births 1963 deaths Premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian Knights Bachelor Australian Methodists Leaders of the opposition in Tasmania Treasurers of Tasmania