Walter Trueman Paget (7 February 1854 – 23 December 1930) was a farmer and politician in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. He was a Member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly 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 h ...

Biography

Paget was born in

Hagley Hagley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated populati ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, the son of Arthur Paget and his wife Esther (née Gray). After his arrival in Australia in the early 1870s, he, along with his brothers, J.G. and Arthur Paget, selected land at Nindaroo, now a suburb of modern-day Mackay. J.G. Paget soon drowned in the

Pioneer River The Pioneer River is a river in North Queensland, Australia. The long river flows through the city of . History Captain John Mackay and his party were the first Europeans to discover the river in 1860. Mackay named it Mackay River after his ...

when crossing the river on horseback. The other brothers first engaged in

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

and general farming but amalgamated the blocks they had selected and entered the sugar industry which was in its infancy in the Mackay area. The brothers then erected their own mill and began crushing their own cane as well as the cane of the local neighbouring farms. The mill continued until the 1890s when it was closed. On 9 August 1884 Paget married Minnie Jane Downing. Minnie died in December of the same yearChurch of England Section, M to Z, Mackay Cemetery
—

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. Retrieved 22 May 2016. and he then married Alice Elizabeth Ruth Haden on 11 April 1889 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and together had two sons and two daughters. On 23 December 1930 Paget died at his home in

Mooloolah Mooloolah Valley is a rural locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mooloolah Valley had a population of 3,629 people. Mooloolah is a town () within the locality. Geography Mooloolah Valley is in the Sunshine ...

, apparently after taking a stroke and falling on a knife. His daughter, Miss M. Paget, visiting from

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

discovered him and a doctor was summoned but he was beyond help. Paget was buried in the Mooloolah Cemetery.Walter Trueman PAGET, died 23 Dec 1930
— Chapel Hill. Retrieved 22 May 2016.

Public career

Paget was a Councilor on the Pioneer Divisional Board from 1883 until 1890 and its Chairman from 1890 until 1895 and in 1901. When the member for Mackay,

James Chataway James Vincent Chataway (6 September 1852 – 12 April 1901) was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Biography Chataway was born in Warwickshire, England, the son of James Chataway and his wife Elizabeth (née Drinkwater) and was e ...

died in 1901, Paget won the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. He went on to represent the electorate until the

1915 Queensland state election Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 22 May 1915 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election was the second for the Liberal government of Digby Denham, who had been premier since 7 Februar ...

when he retired from politics. He was the Secretary for Railways and Agriculture from 1908 to 1911 and Secretary for Railways from 1911 to 1915. The Mackay suburb of Paget was named in his honour.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paget, Walter Trueman Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1854 births 1930 deaths Colony of Queensland people