1. Sir Robert Philp, was a Queensland businessman and politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1899 to September 1903 and again from November 1907 to February 1908.
18 Facts About Robert Philp
1. 2.
Robert Philp emigrated to Brisbane with his parents and siblings in 1862, where his father took a lease on the municipal baths, and later became involved in the cattle and sugar industries.
3.
Robert Philp supported the growing movement for the separation of North Queensland from the rest of the colony.
4.
Robert Philp entered the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1886 as Member for Musgrave.
5.
Robert Philp supported the North Queensland separatists in their unsuccessful attempts to gain independence, but spent most of his early parliamentary career preoccupied with his business affairs.
6.
Robert Philp was a prolific speculator and in 1893 he was forced by debt to resign from the board of directors of Burns, Robert Philp.
7.
Robert Philp held several other ministerial posts, such as Public Instruction, Railways, Public Works and Treasurer until 1899.
8.
Robert Philp codified mining regulations and encouraged the private development of railways throughout the colony.
9.
Morgan briefly lost control of the Legislative Assembly in 1904 and Robert Philp was called upon by Governor Sir Herbert Chermside to form a ministry, but could not secure sufficient support from among his colleagues.
10.
Robert Philp resumed his position as Leader and his conciliatory treatment of the government continued when fellow Scot William Kidston became Premier.
11.
Robert Philp cultivated good relations with Kidston and helped foster the increasing gap between Kidston and the Labor movement.
12.
Robert Philp's party was again unsuccessful in the elections of 1907.
13.
Over Kidston's protests, Lord Chelmsford guaranteed supply through the issuing of writs and then dissolved the Assembly, but Robert Philp failed to win the subsequent election.
14.
Robert Philp remained in parliament, and returned to tending his business interests.
15.
Robert Philp enjoyed the status that his long parliamentary career gave him and participated in the foundation of the University of Queensland in 1912.
16.
Robert Philp was a member of the University's first Senate, and its representative at a conference of universities in Glasgow in 1912.
17.
Robert Philp lost his seat by a small margin in the Labor landslide of 1915 but remained active in politics, campaigning for the conscription referendums of the First World War and leading the resistance to the abolition of the Legislative Council.
18.
Robert Philp married Jessie Banister Campbell in 1878; she died in 1890.