Morgans ministry

Last updated

The Morgans Ministry was the fourth ministry of the Government of Western Australia, led by Alf Morgans of the Ministerialist faction. It succeeded the First Leake Ministry on 21 November 1901, and was followed by the Second Leake Ministry on 23 December 1901.

Contents

Overview

The Ministry came about in part due to the circumstances of the 1901 election, whose result had been indecisive. The First Leake Ministry fell through a 24-22 vote of no confidence on 9 November. Leake advised the Governor to dissolve Parliament, but the request was declined and on 12 November, Leake advised the Legislative Assembly that as soon as the Supply Bill had passed a third reading, his government would resign.

At first, Leader of the Opposition Frederick Henry Piesse was asked to form a Ministry, but on 18 November he advised that he had been unable to form an acceptable Ministry, and Alf Morgans was sent for. Three days later, the Morgans Ministry was sworn in by the Governor.

As was the law at the time, having accepted offices of profit under the Crown, the Ministers were required to resign their seats and contest them at ministerial by-elections. According to Brian de Garis (Stannage, p. 348), Leake and his supporters set about "the best organised campaigning the state had ever witnessed" for the by-elections, and three of the ministers—Frank Wilson, Matthew Moss and Frederick Moorhead were defeated. Morgans, Quinlan and Nanson retained their seats.

This turn of events gave the Opposition a narrow majority with Independent or Labour support. As such, the Morgans Ministry resigned on 20 December 1901, and three days later, George Leake formed a new ministry which could maintain the confidence of the Assembly.

Members

The members of the Morgans ministry were:

OfficeMinister
Premier
Colonial Treasurer
Alf Morgans
Attorney-General Frederick Moorhead
Minister for Works Timothy Quinlan
Minister for Lands John Nanson
Minister for Mines
Commissioner of Railways
Frank Wilson
Colonial Secretary Matthew Moss

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premier of Western Australia</span> Head of the executive branch of the state government of Western Australia

The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive branch of the Government of Western Australia and is accountable to the Parliament of Western Australia. The premier is appointed by the governor of Western Australia. By convention, the governor appoints as premier whoever has the support of the majority of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. In practice, this means that the premier is the leader of the political party or group of parties with a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. Since Western Australia achieved self-governance in 1890, there have been 31 premiers. Mark McGowan is the current premier, having been appointed to the position on 17 March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Leake</span> Australian politician

George Leake was the third Premier of Western Australia, serving from May to November 1901 and then again from December 1901 to his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alf Morgans</span> Australian politician

Alfred Edward Morgans was the fourth Premier of Western Australia, serving for just over a month, from 21 November to 23 December 1901.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Wilson (politician)</span> Premier of Western Australia

Frank Wilson, was the ninth Premier of Western Australia, serving on two separate occasions – from 1910 to 1911 and then again from 1916 to 1917.

The Electoral district of Brown Hill-Ivanhoe was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. It covered part of the Goldfields city of Boulder, near Kalgoorlie, and neighbouring mining areas. It was created at the 1911 redistribution out of the former seats of Brown Hill and Ivanhoe, and was first contested at the 1911 election. It was abolished in the 1948 redistribution, with its area split between the neighbouring electorates of Boulder and Hannans, taking effect from the 1950 election. The seat was a very safe one for the Labor Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Throssell ministry</span>

The Throssell Ministry was the second Ministry of the Government of Western Australia. It succeeded the Forrest Ministry on 15 February 1901 after Sir John Forrest's move from state to federal politics, and was led by Forrest's choice of successor, George Throssell. However, no clear winner emerged from the April 1901 state election, and rather than test his support in the Assembly, Throssell and the Ministry he led resigned on 27 May 1901, allowing the Leake Ministry led by Opposition Leader George Leake to take office.

The First Leake Ministry was the third Ministry of the Government of Western Australia and was led by Premier George Leake, who had hitherto been the Leader of the Opposition. It succeeded the Throssell Ministry on 27 May 1901 after George Throssell's resignation as premier following the inconclusive result of the April 1901 state election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral district of Perth</span> State electoral district of Western Australia

The Electoral district of Perth is a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. Perth is named for the capital city of Western Australia whose central business district falls within its borders. It is one of the oldest electorates in Western Australia, with its first member having been elected in the inaugural 1890 elections of the Legislative Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Illingworth</span> Australian politician

Frederick Illingworth, was an Australian politician, who was a Member of Parliament in two Australian colonies, and a government minister in Western Australia. As a financer of land speculation in Victoria in the 1880s, he was heavily involved in the Victorian land boom.

In Australian political and constitutional terminology, a caretaker government is a government of Australia from when the House of Representatives is dissolved by the Governor-General prior to a general election to a period after the election, until the next ministry is appointed. A caretaker government is expected to conduct itself in accordance with a series of well-defined conventions administered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, but there is no law compelling the caretaker government to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Randell</span> Australian politician

George Randell was an Australian businessman and politician. He served intermittently in the Parliament of Western Australia between 1875 and 1910, including as a minister in the government of Sir John Forrest.

This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly between the 1901 election and the 1904 election, together known as the Fourth Parliament.

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 24 April 1901 to elect 50 members to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. It was the first election to take place since responsible government without the towering presence of Premier Sir John Forrest, who had left state politics two months earlier to enter the first Federal parliament representing the Division of Swan, and the first state parliamentary election to follow the enactment of women's suffrage in 1899.

This is a list of members of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 14 May 1900 to 12 May 1902. The chamber had 24 seats made up of eight provinces each electing three members, on a system of rotation whereby one-third of the members would retire at each biennial election. The Constitution Act Amendment Act 1899, which took effect after the 1900 election, created two new electorates—Metropolitan-Suburban Province and South Province—which had their inaugural elections on 29 August and 5 September 1900 respectively with terms expiring in 1906, 1904 and 1902.

The Electoral district of West Perth was a Legislative Assembly electorate in the state of Western Australia. The district was named for its location immediately to the west of the central business district of Perth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Moss</span> Australian politician

Matthew Lewis Moss KC was a lawyer and politician who served in the Parliament of Western Australia on three separate occasions – in the Legislative Assembly from 1895 to 1897, and in the Legislative Council from 1900 to 1901 and again from 1902 to 1914. He was a minister in the governments of Alf Morgans (1901), Walter James (1902–1904), and Hector Rason (1905–1906). Moss was born in New Zealand and arrived in Western Australia in 1891. He left for England in 1914 and spent the rest of his life there, although he maintained connections with Australia, on two occasions acting as Agent-General for Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Nanson</span> Australian politician

John Leighton Nanson was a journalist and politician in Western Australia. A former writer and sub-editor with The West Australian, he served in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1901 to 1905 and again from 1908 to 1914. Nanson was a minister in the governments of Alf Morgans, Walter James, Newton Moore, and Frank Wilson, including as attorney-general from 1909 to 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph John Holmes</span> Australian politician

Joseph John Holmes was an Australian politician who served in both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia. A minister in both governments of George Leake, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1897 to 1904 and again from 1905 to 1906, and later a member of the Legislative Council from 1914 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Moorhead</span> Australian politician

Frederick William Moorhead KC was an Australian barrister, politician, and judge. He was born in Ireland and emigrated to Western Australia in 1889. Moorhead was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1899 to 1901, and briefly served as the state's attorney-general in the government of Alf Morgans. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in April 1902, but died after only seven months in office.

References

Preceded by Morgans Ministry
1901
Succeeded by