William Neal Gillies (27 October 1868 – 9 February 1928)"Gillies, William Neil (1868–1928)"
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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 6 January 2015. was an Australian Labor politician in Queensland who served as

premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is appointed ...

from February to October 1925.

Early life

Gillies was born in Eccleston,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

(in the

Allyn River Allyn River, a perennial stream of the Hunter River catchment, is located in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Course Allyn River rises on Allyn Range, on the slopes of the Gondwana Rainforests Barrington Tops, west of Careys Pe ...

district), the son of Dougald Gillies, farmer, and his wife Mary (née Gillies), both parents being

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

immigrants. Gillies was educated at local schools and in 1882 went with his parents to the Village of Tintenbar in the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may ...

country. There he took up farming including sugar-cane growing, and began to be interested in public affairs. In 1900, Gillies married Margaret Smith.

Political career

He was an active member of the anti-alien league, and afterwards became president of the New South Wales sugar growers defence league. In the federal election of 1910 he stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate for the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

seat, and was again defeated when he stood for the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

in the same district. Late in 1910 Gillies took up land in Queensland and in 1912 won the Eacham seat for Labour in 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 ...

despite a charge of falsely stating his period of residence on an electoral claim. He held this seat until his retirement from politics. Gillies was assistant-minister for justice in the Thomas J. Ryan ministry from 25 April 1918 to September 1919 and for a few weeks until 22 October, was secretary for agriculture and stock. He held the last position in the

Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch), state Labor Party. He later entere ...

ministry from October 1919 till February 1925, and his practical experience as a farmer was found to be of great use. Many amendments were made in existing legislation relating to agriculture and no fewer than 14 new measures were passed. This period was marked by the establishment of the cotton industry and the stabilization of the sugar and farming industries. Williamgilliesheadstone

On the resignation of Theodore, Gillies became premier on 26 February 1925, taking the positions of chief secretary and treasurer, and vice-president of the executive council. He was premier during a period of great labour unrest with constantly occurring strikes. Gillies was a man of moderate views and he found the more extreme section of the party very active, and he was beset with anxieties. He compromised as much as possible, but on 27 October 1925 was glad to resign and become a member of the newly established board of trade and arbitration. He gave much study to the problems to be dealt with and carried out his work with conspicuous fairness. He, however, felt the strain very much and died suddenly on 9 February 1928.

Legacy

Gillies 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 ...

which took place from St Andrew's Presbyterian Church to his burial place at

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland, Queensland's lar ...

."Gillies William Neal"
Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 7 January 2015. The

Gillies Highway The Gillies Highway is a road that runs from Gordonvale in the Cairns Region through the Gillies Range (part of the Great Dividing Range) to Atherton in the Tablelands Region, both in Queensland, Australia. Its official name is Gillies Range ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

was named after him, as he founded the Main Roads Board, which subsequently became the Department of Main Roads (now part of the Department of Transport and Main Roads).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillies, William 1868 births 1928 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian people of Scottish descent Burials at Toowong Cemetery Colony of New South Wales people Deputy premiers of Queensland Premiers of Queensland Treasurers of Queensland