Jump to content

Thomas Paterson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Paterson
Deputy Leader of the Country Party
In office
19 November 1929 – 27 November 1937
LeaderEarle Page
Preceded byWilliam Gibson
Succeeded byHarold Thorby
Minister for the Interior
In office
9 November 1934 – 29 November 1937
Prime MinisterJoseph Lyons
Preceded byEric Harrison
Succeeded byJohn McEwen
Minister for Markets and Transport
In office
10 December 1928 – 22 October 1929
Minister for Markets:
19 January 1928 – 10 December 1928
Minister for Markets and Migration:
18 June 1926 – 19 January 1928
Prime MinisterStanley Bruce
Preceded byVictor Wilson
Succeeded byParker Moloney
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Gippsland
In office
16 December 1922 – 7 July 1943
Preceded byGeorge Wise
Succeeded byGeorge Bowden
Personal details
Born(1882-11-20)20 November 1882
Aston, Warwickshire, England
Died24 January 1952(1952-01-24) (aged 69)
McKinnon, Victoria, Australia
Political partyCountry
Spouse
Elsie Jane Tyrrell
(m. 1908)
OccupationFarmer

Thomas Paterson (20 November 1882 – 24 January 1952) was an Australian politician who served as deputy leader of the Country Party from 1929 to 1937. He held ministerial office in the governments of Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons, representing the Division of Gippsland in Victoria from 1922 to 1943. He played a leading role in the creation of the Victorian Country Party as the political arm of the Victorian Farmers' Union.

Early life

[edit]

Paterson was born on 20 November 1882 in Aston, Birmingham, England. He was the son of Scottish parents Elizabeth Mitchell (née Donald) and George Paterson.[1]

Paterson attended King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Ayr Grammar School in Scotland. He left school after his father's death in 1897 and began working for footwear retailer Morton's, his father's former employer. He worked in England and Scotland as a shoe salesman and branch manager, resigning in 1908 in order to immigrate to Australia. Prior to leaving he worked on a farm and attended the Dairy School in Kilmarnock in order to gain experience in agriculture.[1]

Together with four other family members, Paterson arrived in Melbourne in December 1908. They joined two of his brothers who had previously established a dairy farming property at Springfield, Victoria. The brothers developed a mixed farm on scientific principles, while Paterson also bred Clydesdale horses. He joined the Victorian Farmers' Union in 1916 as a member of the Springfield branch, and was elected vice-president in 1920 and state president in 1922.[1]

Political career

[edit]

Paterson joined the Victorian Farmers' Union in 1916, became its president in March 1922 and in November 1922 chaired a conference that led to the creation of the Victorian Country Party. He stood unsuccessfully for the Senate in the 1919 elections and for the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1920 but in 1922 elections he won the federal seat of Gippsland, defeating the Nationalist George Wise. His victory was one of several Country Party gains that forced the Nationalists to go into Coalition with the Country Party in order to stay in office.

In parliament, he campaigned for a subsidy for dairy exports to be paid for by a tax on Australian consumers and known by opponents as "Paterson's Curse" (referring to the Australian name for Echium plantagineum). £20 million were paid under this scheme between 1926 and 1933. Paterson was Minister for Markets and Migration from June 1926 to January 1928, Minister for Markets from January to December 1928 and Minister for Markets and Transport from December 1928 to October 1929. He was deputy leader of the parliamentary Country Party from 1929 to 1937, under Earle Page, and was acting leader for several months in 1933 following the death of Page's son.

He was appointed Minister for the Interior in the Lyons coalition government in November 1934. Also in November 1934 he made an exclusion order against Czech writer Egon Kisch which was later overturned by the High Court. He resigned as minister and deputy party leader after the 1937 elections, as a result of the 1936 controversy over the exclusion from Australia of Mabel Freer, a white British woman born in India, who, under the terms of the 1901 Immigration Restriction Act, had failed a dictation test in Italian.[2]

During his time as Minister for the Interior, Paterson was praised by William Cooper of the Australian Aborigines' League for his goodwill and support of the League's requests for greater government assistance to Aboriginal people.[3]

Paterson remained prominent in Country Party affairs and helped form a breakaway party from the Victorian Country Party that was loyal to the federal parliamentary Country Party in March 1938. He helped reconcile the federal and Victorian parties in 1943, but did not stand for re-election in 1943 elections.[1]

Personal life

[edit]

Paterson married Elsie Jane Tyrrell in 1908, one day before the couple migrated to Australia.[1] The couple had two sons; their younger son Archibald was a decorated Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) member but drowned in 1945.[4]

Paterson was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. After leaving politics he served as a director of the Phosphate Cooperative Company of Australia and the Victorian Wheat-Growers' Corporation.[1] He died at his home in McKinnon on 24 January 1952, after an illness of three months.[5] He was granted a state funeral and cremated at Springvale Cemetery.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Costar, B. J. (1996). "Paterson, Thomas (1882–1952)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  2. ^ Robertson, Kel (2005). "Dictating to One of 'Us': the Migration of Mrs Freer". Macquarie Law Journal. Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. ^ Attwood & Markus, pp. 95–96.
  4. ^ "Drowning Victim Son of Former Federal Minister". The Argus. Melbourne. 24 July 1945.
  5. ^ "Former Federal Minister Dies". The Age. Melbourne. 25 January 1952.
  6. ^ "State Funeral for Former M.P." The Age. Melbourne. 28 January 1952.

Sources

[edit]
  • Attwood and Markus (2004) Thinking Black: William Cooper and the Aborigines' Advancement League, Aboriginal Studies Press: Canberra. ISBN 0 85575 459 1.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Markets and Migration
Minister for Markets
Minister for Markets and Transport

1928–29
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for the Interior
1934–37
Succeeded by
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Gippsland
1922–43
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Deputy Leader of the
Country Party of Australia

1929–37
Succeeded by