157 Facts About Hal Colebatch

Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch was a long-serving figure in Western Australian politics.

Hal Colebatch was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for nearly 20 years, the twelfth Premier of Western Australia for a month in 1919, agent-general in London for five years, and a senator for four years.

Hal Colebatch was known for supporting free trade, federalism and Western Australian secessionism, and for opposing communism, socialism and fascism.

Hal Colebatch left school aged 11 and worked for several newspapers in South Australia before moving to Broken Hill in New South Wales in 1888 to work as a reporter for the Silver Age.

Hal Colebatch became friends with local bank manager James Mitchell and convinced Mitchell to run for state parliament.

Hal Colebatch was the mayor of Northam between 1909 and 1912.

Hal Colebatch became a member of parliament himself when he was elected to the East Province of the Legislative Council in 1912.

Hal Colebatch chose to close the Western Australian border, leaving Lefroy and two ministers stuck outside the state.

Hal Colebatch resigned as premier one month after taking the job and was succeeded by Mitchell.

Hal Colebatch served as a minister in the James ministry for four years, but resigned to become agent-general in 1923.

Hal Colebatch served most of his time as agent-general under a Labor government as Phillip Collier beat Mitchell in an election in March 1924.

Hal Colebatch sat on the Royal Commission on the Constitution.

Hal Colebatch resigned in 1933 to take the position of agent-general again.

Hal Colebatch was thus appointed to lead a delegation to the British Parliament to request secession.

Hal Colebatch continued on as agent-general until 1939, where he would make several trips to Germany to meet with anti-fascists as well as Nazi political figures.

Hal Colebatch would serve there for eight years, and during this time, would frequently write in The Northam Advertiser about his view on World War II.

Hal Colebatch contested the 1948 election but failed to be elected.

Hal Colebatch died in 1953 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.

At age eleven, Hal Colebatch left school as his father could not afford to continue with it.

The normal leaving age was thirteen, but Hal Colebatch sat and passed an examination in August 1883 to allow him to leave.

Hal Colebatch got his first job as a junior reporter, printer's devil, compositor and office boy for the Norwood Free Press, a small newspaper in suburban Adelaide.

Hal Colebatch attended evening classes in shorthand, literature and Latin at the Pirie Street Literary Institute.

In 1888, aged 16, Hal Colebatch moved to Broken Hill in New South Wales, working as a reporter for the Silver Age for six years.

Hal Colebatch reported on a number of strike meetings in the latter half of 1892 and was summoned as a Crown witness in the prosecution of strike leaders.

The Silver Age, by then known as the Broken Hill Age, was on the verge of collapse and the payment of Hal Colebatch's wages had become irregular.

Hal Colebatch was ready to leave Broken Hill when in 1894, he received a letter from his friend Sidney Hocking saying that he had just purchased the Western Argus, Kalgoorlie's weekly newspaper, and wanted Hal Colebatch to take his place at the Golden Age in Coolgardie.

The Golden Age burnt down in September 1895, and so Hal Colebatch moved to Kalgoorlie to work with Hocking on the Kalgoorlie Miner, a new daily newspaper.

At the start of 1896, they moved to Perth, the colony's capital city, for Hal Colebatch to join the Morning Herald as its mining and chess editor.

Hal Colebatch became the Western Australian correspondent for the British Australasian and the Financial Times and the metropolitan correspondent for several regional newspapers.

Hal Colebatch married Saunders on 29 April 1896 in St George's Cathedral, Perth.

In 1898, Hal Colebatch was banned from the parliamentary press gallery for reporting on a supposed fistfight that had occurred between two members of parliament.

Later that day, Hal Colebatch discovered that the story had been exaggerated and that it was merely a verbal disagreement.

Hal Colebatch was dragged out by the sergeant-at-arms on 19 October 1898, and the following day, Hal Colebatch sent a letter that he intended to sue the sergeant-at-arms for assault.

The Morning Herald, which by this time Hal Colebatch had become assistant leader-writer under Archibald Sanderson, campaigned against federation.

Hal Colebatch was inspired by Sanderson's anti-federation arguments and became anti-federation himself, unusual for someone from eastern Australia.

The Morning Herald eventually collapsed, and so in 1904, Hal Colebatch moved to Northam, a town in Western Australia's Wheatbelt.

In Northam, Hal Colebatch became friends with local bank branch manager and future premier James Mitchell.

Hal Colebatch founded the Northam Bowling Club and took a part in creating a bowling club in the nearby town of York.

Hal Colebatch became a well-known figure within Northam, becoming a justice of the peace in 1906, a member of the District Board of Education, the local fire brigades board and the state fire brigades board.

Hal Colebatch oversaw the sealing of Northam's roads for the first time as well as the development of the Avon River with weirs and embankments to enhance the surroundings and prevent flooding, an initiative started by Bernard.

Hal Colebatch managed to secure several large grants from the state government for these works.

Hal Colebatch first ran for parliament in 1910, contesting the East Province of the Legislative Council in a by-election on 26 September resulting from the death of George Throssell.

Hal Colebatch came second out of the three candidates, being beat by the more well known Warren Marwick.

Hal Colebatch then received a petition from 72 electors to run again, so he contested the newly-created seat of Avon in the 1911 state election.

Hal Colebatch was narrowly defeated by Thomas Bath from the Labor Party.

Hal Colebatch was the convenor of a finance sub-committee within the Liberal Party, which made the successful recommendation to charge a membership fee so the party would be less reliant on large donors.

In March 1912, Hal Colebatch was elected to the executive committee of the Liberal Party.

Hal Colebatch was initially not going to contest the May 1912 Legislative Council election, but Marwick had become unpopular in Northam due to his opinion on the proposed route for the transcontinental railway line.

Hal Colebatch supported the transcontinental railway line passing through Northam and a developmental railway being built from Armadale to Brookton.

Hal Colebatch won the East Province, beating Marwick by a small margin in every polling place except for in Marwick's home town of York.

Hal Colebatch did not contest the November 1912 Northam municipal election and was succeeded as mayor by Bernard.

Hal Colebatch was part of the newly-formed Liberal Party, however in his maiden speech, he said he would always speak for his individual feelings.

Hal Colebatch says it would have been difficult for Colebatch to stand out if he had entered the conservative-dominated upper house during a Liberal government, but entering during a Labor government gave him an opportunity to use his formidable debating skills.

The Scaddan government felt that establishing and expanding government enterprises was in the best interests of the state, something that Hal Colebatch was strongly opposed to.

Hal Colebatch felt that the Perth City Council was being cheated out of their reversionary rights to the tramways and that the government would be a poor operator like they were with the railways.

Hal Colebatch opposed the bill for preferencing unionists and hampering the ability of industries to compete with overseas firms.

One bill that Hal Colebatch was especially interested in was the Water Rights and Irrigation Bill.

Hal Colebatch's opponents used this to attack his claimed position of being above party politics.

Hal Colebatch opposed having equally-populated constituencies, saying that "it seems to be utterly unfair that huge districts with great interests and scattered population should be put in the same position as closely congested and settled communities".

Hal Colebatch proposed seven amendments, including that rural districts should have 20 percent fewer voters and metropolitan districts should have more voters.

Matthew Moss, the unofficial leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council, retired at the 1914 election, enabling Hal Colebatch to take the position.

Hal Colebatch attacked the government for introducing the bill so late in the session, just before the 1914 election, without the presentation of estimates, and for only one third of the money raised going to the farmers.

Hal Colebatch believed that the money would better off with private enterprise, which would be able to provide more jobs and greater benefits to the state.

The Liberal Party's Frank Wilson became premier, and although he had only been in parliament for four years, Hal Colebatch was an obvious choice to join the ministry and lead the government in the Legislative Council.

Hal Colebatch later claimed that he was appointed education minister due to his advocacy for country high schools when Wilson was previously premier.

The State Fish Supplies, which was one of Hal Colebatch's responsibilities, was shut down due to not being commercially viable.

Hal Colebatch was opposed to large-scale gambling and lotteries, particularly those run by the government, believing them to be a tax on the poor and stupid.

Hal Colebatch introduced a bill to outlaw bookmaking in 1916, but it was not passed by parliament.

The island was made an A-class reserve in 1917 and Hal Colebatch was appointed as the first president of the Rottnest Island Board of Control.

Hal Colebatch became the unofficial deputy premier and kept his previous positions in the new ministry.

Hal Colebatch had established scholarships to enable children from outside areas to attend them.

Hal Colebatch considered using Rottnest Island if need be, but it was not ideal as it was further from the mainland than Garden Island.

However Hal Colebatch stated that he believed that the sick soldiers were "entitled to be taken off the boat as soon as land is reached", and that allowing the ship to continue on to the eastern states would result in most of the other passengers on board being infected.

Hal Colebatch denounced the federal government's handling of the matter, as despite it being responsible for shipping and quarantine under the Australian constitution, it did very little.

Hal Colebatch decided to allow a special train in, as long as the people aboard quarantined, but Watt disallowed this from happening.

Hal Colebatch earned further praise when he ended a two-month-long tramway strike.

Hal Colebatch made himself Colonial Treasurer, the minister for education and the minister for railways.

Hal Colebatch reinstated Mitchell in the cabinet, making him the minister for lands.

Hal Colebatch implored Watt to try and settle the dispute, as industrial relations were the responsibility of the federal government and the state had little power to do anything other than to use police to diffuse violence.

Hal Colebatch said that if the issue was not fixed quickly, then he would stop shipping to Fremantle.

Hal Colebatch announced on 8 May 1919 that the NWWU had agreed to withdraw from the wharf to avoid any further conflict.

Hal Colebatch resigned as premier on 15 May 1919 as he was unable to find a Legislative Assembly seat and his health was deteriorating due to undiagnosed diabetes.

Hal Colebatch was the deputy premier and leader of the government in the Legislative Council again.

Mitchell did not like travelling interstate for meetings with the prime minister and other premiers, so he often had Hal Colebatch represent him instead.

Hal Colebatch attended a meeting with Prime Minister Billy Hughes and the other premiers in October 1919.

Hughes wanted to enlarge the powers of the Commonwealth Government, which Hal Colebatch was opposed to, as he believed local self-governance improved economic efficiency and individual freedom.

Hal Colebatch met with Hughes again to show the prime minister the Group Settlement Scheme and the Fairbridge Farm School.

Hal Colebatch managed to help convince Hughes of the need for an increase in immigration to increase the state's population and develop its infrastructure, an interest of Mitchell's.

Hal Colebatch guided V S Srinivasa Sastri, who was sent to ensure that Indians settled in white British countries were not discriminated against.

Lady Forrest wanted for the statue to depict him as a "slim young explorer", but Hal Colebatch convinced her that a statue depicting him as a "mature and portly statesman" would be best.

From 1921 to 1922, Hal Colebatch was the president of the West Australian Club.

Hal Colebatch was a life member of the Royal Perth Yacht Club.

Hal Colebatch was therefore responsible for introducing and handling all bills and other business of the upper house, placing a large workload on him.

In early 1923, Mitchell announced that he had chosen Hal Colebatch to be the next Agent-General for Western Australia in London.

Hal Colebatch resigned from the ministry and from parliament on 17 June 1923, and was succeeded by William Carroll.

Hal Colebatch had given equal shares in The Northam Advertiser to his wife and two sons as a reward for their service in the army.

Harley became editor though Hal Colebatch continued to write for it.

Mitchell had asked Hal Colebatch to find him an advisor on tropical agriculture.

Hal Colebatch's doctor told him he was days away from death before the operation.

Hal Colebatch had to stay in Calcutta for several weeks while he recovered.

Hal Colebatch spend the rest of his term as agent-general under a Labor Western Australian Government.

Hal Colebatch became chairman of the committee responsible for the Australian section of the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 after the previous committee fell apart.

Hal Colebatch supported Australian High Commissioner Joseph Cook when he opposed the country subsidizing the following year's event.

Hal Colebatch became a member of the Savage Club when one of the committee members nominated him.

Hal Colebatch found difficulty in raising loans for Western Australia, firstly, because the London money market was depressed, and secondly, because much loan money was being sent to Germany instead due to the high interest rates there.

Hal Colebatch pointed out to Collier that he would have been expected by Coalition politicians to campaign against Labor in the election.

Hal Colebatch thought it would be distasteful to campaign against the government when they had worked together well over the previous three years.

Hal Colebatch accepted, and became one of seven members of the commission.

Hal Colebatch suggest that the election method for the Australian Senate be changed from the "block majority" method to proportional representation.

Hal Colebatch was elected as a senator for Western Australia at the 1928 federal election, taking his seat on 1 July 1929.

Hal Colebatch had accepted the nomination from the Nationalist Party on the condition that he would not attend party meetings and that he would not be bound by how the party wanted to vote, believing that the party system undermined the Senate's intended role as the state's house.

Hal Colebatch was the first of the three elected, declaring that his election was an endorsement of his belief that the Senate should be a states' house and not a party house.

Hal Colebatch argued that protectionism was bad for Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, as those states were export-oriented and had little manufacturing industry.

The industry was agitating for subsidies but Hal Colebatch was ideologically opposed to this, so he instead introduced an amendment to a bill so that the government would have to pay market price for gold.

Hal Colebatch opposed subsidies for other materials though, and succeeded in defeating two of them.

Hal Colebatch was Western Australia's only politician to oppose this, and he did so because he did not want to fund public works with loans without any provision for paying back the loans.

Hal Colebatch was one of few people at the time to question why railways were under public ownership.

Hal Colebatch criticised the Labor government when it reduced military training in country areas as it cost more than in cities, saying that it was unfair to people living in the country and that the Great Depression could lead to war.

Hal Colebatch lobbied for the Australian government to contribute to the construction of the Singapore Naval Base.

In 1930, Hal Colebatch was the vice-chairman of a select committee to investigate the standing committee system, although he acted as the chairman for much of that time as the chairman was overseas.

Hal Colebatch largely agreed with what Niemeyer said, however the Labor Party did not.

Dunn asked for Hal Colebatch to make sure that all Coalition members were present, who then went to the leader of the Senate opposition, George Pearce, who was uninterested.

Hal Colebatch then went to William Glasgow and managed to convince him that Dunn was telling the truth.

Hal Colebatch was disappointed when the new United Australia Party government turned out to be almost as protectionist as the previous government.

Hal Colebatch was the only senator to oppose the Ottawa Agreement of 1932, which established the system of Imperial Preference.

Hal Colebatch, believing his anti-protectionist efforts in the Senate to be futile, took the position, making him the first person to be agent-general for Western Australia twice.

Hal Colebatch soon became one of the league's most prominent speakers, most notably delivering a speech on 13 February 1933 at the Perth Town Hall to an overflowing audience.

The anti-secessionist Federal League objected to Hal Colebatch being associated with the pro-secession campaign as the agent-general is meant to be neutral, but he was still a senator and had not taken up the position of agent-general yet.

Hal Colebatch resigned from the Senate on 20 March 1933 and assumed the position of agent-general five days later.

Hal Colebatch urged for Collier to be part of the delegation but he chose not to.

Hal Colebatch was instead leader with the other members being legal advisor Matthew Moss, chairman of the Dominion League Keith Watson and vice-president of the Dominion League James MacCallum Smith.

Hal Colebatch knew the chance of being successful was low but saw the situation as a useful bargaining chip in negotiations with the federal government as well as way to generate publicity for the state's grievances.

When Watson suggested armed rebellion if the petition was rejected, Hal Colebatch issued a statement distancing the Western Australian government from these comments.

Hal Colebatch could consider the situation a win, despite having previously advocated for secession, as the federal government soon reduced import duties on several items and it established the Commonwealth Grants Commission to advise the government on the distribution of grants to the states.

In 1933, Hal Colebatch issued an invitation to tender for the construction of a new generator at East Perth Power Station.

Hal Colebatch arranged the purchase of the MV Koolama and new railcars and trolleybuses.

Hal Colebatch was able to convince the Minister for Commerce, Earle Page, to negotiate with Belgium to reopen trade.

Hal Colebatch proposed an Australian Trade Council which was to consist of the agents-general and the high commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Hal Colebatch became a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers in December 1935 and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers some time later.

Hal Colebatch became a freeman of the City of London.

Hal Colebatch represented Australia at the funeral of King George V and the coronation of King George VI.

Hal Colebatch was a member of the Council of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor.

When Collier decided he wanted Mitchell to be the next lieutenant governor of Western Australia, Hal Colebatch negotiated with the Dominions Office for Mitchell to be appointed.

Hal Colebatch went on a tour of Scandinavia at the beginning of 1936, having received invitations from the Anglo-Swedish and Anglo-Danish societies to give a series of lectures on Australian products.

Hal Colebatch accepted the invitations on the condition that he was not paid for his lectures.

Hal Colebatch later went on a lecture tour of England and Scotland for the Overseas League, where he urged for Britain to adopt conscription.

Hal Colebatch described the event as propaganda designed to impress the delegates.

Hal Colebatch was given a tour of a labour camp and a concentration camp, possibly Sachsenhausen.

Hal Colebatch described the camp as "specially selected for display to visitors".

Albeit keen to continue as agent-general, when Hal Colebatch's term was up in 1939, a former Labor minister, Frank Troy, was appointed in his place.

Hal Colebatch was again elected to the Legislative Council, this time to the Metropolitan Province, taking his seat in July 1940.

Hal Colebatch believed that parliament could use his experience in local, national and international affairs during the war.

Hal Colebatch was the chairman of the Royal Commission into the Care and Reform of Youthful Delinquents.

Hal Colebatch contested the 1948 Western Australian Legislative Council election as one of two candidates endorsed by the Liberal Party for his seat.

The party did not want Hal Colebatch elected though, and only helped the other candidate.

Hal Colebatch married Mary Maud Saunders on 29 April 1896 in St George's Cathedral.

At a social function at Parliament House, Hal Colebatch met Marion Frances Gibson, an Army Nursing Sister and daughter of politician Frank Gibson.