15 Facts About William Giblin

William Robert Giblin was Premier of Tasmania from 5 March 1878 until 20 December 1878 and from 1879 until 1884.

William Giblin was educated first at a school kept by his uncle Robert Giblin and afterwards at Hobart High School.

William Giblin was a great reader with a retentive memory, in 1862 won a prize for the best poem on the conversion of St Paul, and about this time delivered some lectures on literary subjects.

Also in 1864 William Giblin was one of the founders of the Hobart Working Men's Club, was elected its president, and was re-elected on several occasions subsequently.

William Giblin began to interest himself in public life and especially in the proposed railway from Hobart to Launceston.

In 1869, William Giblin was elected without opposition as member for Hobart Town in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, and in February 1870 became attorney-general in the James Milne Wilson ministry.

In June 1877 William Giblin lost his seat at the general election, but he was afterwards elected for Wellington and joined the cabinet of Sir Philip Fysh as attorney-general, exchanging that position for the treasurership a few days later.

When Fysh left for London in March 1878 William Giblin succeeded him as premier and held office until 20 December 1878.

In June 1879, William Giblin became the chairman of the newly-formed Tasmanian Football Association.

William Giblin's government lasted nearly five years and during that period the finances of the colony were put in order and railways and roads were built.

In December 1881 Giblin exchanged the position of treasurer for that of attorney-general with John S Dodds.

William Giblin represented Tasmania at the intercolonial tariff conference at Sydney in 1881 and at the Sydney federal conference in 1883, and took an important part in the debates.

William Giblin died of heart disease in Hobart on 17 January 1887, aged 46.

The prominent bluff to the south of Legges Tor on the Ben Lomond plateau is named after William Giblin, as his son was a member of the survey party that explored the northern aspect of the mountain in 1907.

The banker and cricketer Vincent Wanostrocht William Giblin was a nephew, and many other members of the William Giblin family were prominent in Tasmanian society.