15 Facts About Colin Rankin

Colin Dunlop Wilson Rankin was born on 20 January 1869 at Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland, the second son of William Rankin, colliery manager, and his wife Jane, nee Anderson.

Colin Rankin was educated at Galston Public School and Kilmarnock Academy.

Colin Rankin joined its staff and from 1886 the Queensland Defence Force.

Colin Rankin married Annabelle Davidson Thomson on 5 September 1906 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Maryborough; they settled on his plantation.

Colin Rankin was appointed second-in-command of the First Australian Regiment of Mounted Infantry and saw action at Diamond Hill, Riet Vlei and elsewhere.

Invalided to England, Colin Rankin returned to Queensland in March 1901.

Colin Rankin tried to enter the Queensland Legislative Assembly by contesting the Burrum in the 1899 Queensland colonial election.

Colin Rankin held the seat through the 1907,1908,1909,1912, and 1915 state elections.

Colin Rankin promoted rural interests during his thirteen years in parliament.

Colin Rankin became a council-member of the Australian Sugar Producers' Union.

Colin Rankin returned home in November, and retired with the honorary rank of colonel in February 1917.

In 1919, when his brother, William Charles Colin Rankin, died he succeeded him as general manager of the Queensland Collieries.

Colin Rankin had found the company in poor shape with a falling output and inadequate coal reserves; charges have been made of 'intense exploitation, sub-standard conditions and hard-fistedness'.

Colin Rankin courageously took out new leases in the Burrum district and opened new mines which helped the company to weather the Depression of the 1930s.

Colin Rankin died in a private hospital in Brisbane on 2 November 1940, survived by his wife and two daughters, and was buried with Anglican rites in Howard Cemetery.