Hal Colebatch
This article is about the politician; for his son the author and journalist, see Hal Gibson Pateshall Colebatch. |
Hal Colebatch, from the Western Australian Government Photographer Collection |
Hon.
Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch (
29 March 1872–
12 February 1953),
CMG, better known as
Sir Hal Colebatch, was a long serving and occasionally controversial figure in
Western Australian politics. He was a member of the
Western Australian Legislative Council for nearly 20 years,
premier of Western Australia for a month in
1919,
Agent-General for Western Australia for nearly ten years, and a
Senator for four years.
Hal Colebatch was born in
Wolferlow in
Herefordshire,
England on
29 March 1872. His family migrated to
Australia in
1878, settling at
Goolwa in
South Australia. Colebatch left school in
1883 at the age of 11, because his father could not afford to continue his education. He then found work as an office boy and junior
reporter for a local
newspaper, the
Norwood Free Press. When this paper collapsed, he worked for a series of short-lived papers on the South Australian
goldfields. In
1888, he moved to
Broken Hill, New South Wales, where he worked for six years as reporter for the
Silver Age. There, he reported on a number of
strike meetings in
1892, and was subsequently summoned as a
Crown witness in the
prosecution of some strike leaders.
In
1894, Colebatch migrated to
Western Australia to take up a position as reporter on the
Coolgardie newspaper
Golden Age. After the collapse of the
Golden Age the following year, he moved to
Kalgoorlie to report on the
Kalgoorlie Miner. In
1896, he moved to
Perth to join the
Morning Herald as
mining editor and
chess editor. Colebatch was a keen chess player at this time, and in
1898 he won the state title, thereby become Western Australia's third chess champion. On
29 April 1896, Colebatch married Mary Maude Saunders
1 in Perth.
The press gallery ban
In
1898, Hal Colebatch telegraphed to the
Kalgoorlie Miner a report on a fist fight in
parliament between two
members. Information on the fight had been provided by a police inspector who had been on duty in the House, and had been instructed to brief reporters. The information was in fact greatly exaggerated, and no such fight had occurred. However by the time Colebatch discovered this fact, the telegraph office was closed. The
Kalgoorlie Miner ran the story on the front page.
The
premier,
Sir John Forrest, was furious about the report, because of its potential effect on
investment in the state. The government subsequently
sued the proprietors of the
Kalgoorlie Miner for publishing a
libel, but the case was unsuccessful. Forrest then had Colebatch banned from the press gallery. On
19 October, the Sergeant-at-Arms expelled Colebatch from the House, and the following day he indicated his intention to sue for
assault. Colebatch subsequently received plenty of support in the House from members who felt that he had been unfairly treated, and shortly afterwards his suspension was lifted.
In Northam
In
1904, Colebatch moved to
Northam, where he bought the
Northam Advertiser. He ran the paper until
1923, when he gave it to his sons as a reward for their war service. He would continue contributing to the paper for the rest of his life.
In Northam, Colebatch met and became friends with
James Mitchell. Colebatch encouraged Mitchell to stand for parliament, and in
1905 he managed Mitchell's successful campaign for election to the
Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Northam. Mitchell would hold the seat until
1933, and this would later prevent Colebatch from contesting the lower house seat himself. From
1909 to
1912, Colebatch was Mayor of Northam. In February 1912, he formed a Northam branch of the Liberal League.
In
1910, Colebatch unsuccessfully contested the
East Province seat in the
Western Australian Legislative Council in a
by-election. The following year he contested the Legislative Assembly
seat of Avon but was again unsuccessful. On
14 May 1912, he was elected to the Legislative Council seat of East Province in a by-election. There, he played a key role in the Legislative Council's persistent opposition to much of the more radical legislation put forward by
John Scaddan's
Labor government. When Scaddan's government fell in
1916, Colebatch was appointed
Colonial Secretary and Minister for
Education in
Frank Wilson's government. The following year, he became deputy premier under
Henry Lefroy. That year also, he oversaw the establishment of the first
high schools in
regional Western Australia.
The Spanish Flu crises
In the latter half of
1918,
Spanish flu was sweeping the world, but had not yet broken out in Western Australia. As Minister for Health, Colebatch was responsible for quarantine. This presented a series of challenges. Late in
1918, with Lefroy absent and Colebatch acting as premier as well as Minister for Health, the troopship
Boonah returned to Western Australia carrying soldiers infected with the Spanish flu. Colebatch was required to maintain a balance between the conflicting requirements of maintaining an effective quarantine while treating and repatriating the returned troops. Once the
Boonah crisis was over, Colebatch was widely seen to have handled it responsibly and effectively.
Early in the new year, another crisis eventuated when the Spanish flu broke out in
Victoria and
South Australia. Both states initially declined to declare infection and close their borders, so Colebatch closed Western Australia's borders unilaterally. His decision greatly angered the acting
Prime Minister of Australia William Watt, but he was strongly supported in Western Australia.
Premiership
On
17 April 1919, Lefroy resigned as premier, and Colebatch succeeded him. He remains the only premier of Western Australia to have governed from the Legislative Council, and he did so on the understanding that a Legislative Assembly seat would be found for him. Colebatch continued as Colonial Secretary and Minister for Education, and also took on the Treasury and Railways portfolios. He brought Mitchell into the ministry as Minister for Lands.
Within two weeks, Colebatch had yet another crisis to deal with: the
Fremantle wharf crisis of 1919. The labour crisis dragged on for almost a month, and would culminate in one of the most violent confrontations in West Australian history. Lumpers objected to goods being unloaded by non-union labour, from the ship
Dimboola. Colebatch survived a barrage of projectiles when he personally confronted the unionists. One of the unionists, Tom Edwards, was killed by police. Unlike previous crises, Colebatch was not seen to have handled the crisis well, and he sustained heavy criticism during and after it.
On
17 May, Colebatch resigned, having been premier for exactly one month. It remains the shortest premiership of Western Australia on record. His decision to resign was almost certainly influenced by the stress of the wharf crisis and the extensive subsequent criticism. However he was also suffering from poor health, and had been unable to find a Legislative Assembly seat in a country electorate as desired. H.G.P. Colebatch (2004) also asserts that Colebatch resigned as premier because he was not ambitious and had not wanted the job in the first place.
Colebatch handed over the premiership to his friend Mitchell. He retained the Public Health and Education portfolios, and also accepted the
Agriculture portfolio. He continued as Deputy Premier and as Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. He was responsible for the creation of a North West Department, and became its minister a month later. In April
1921, he dropped the Agriculture and Public Health portfolios, and instead took on the
Justice portfolio. After the
1921 election, Colebatch was the only government minister in the Legislative Council, and so he had a huge workload.
Agent-General for Western Australia
Colebatch was appointed a
CMG in the New Year Honours of
1923, and shortly afterwards resigned his seat to take up appointment as the
Agent-General for Western Australia in
London. Colebatch was widely considered to be an outstanding Agent-General, with a
1924 publication claiming
the Agent-General (Mr H.P. Colebatch) is regarded in England as one of the most able representatives this country has ever had in London2He was due to finish his term in November
1926, but an election was due in Western Australia at that time, and neither Colebatch nor the incumbent Labor government wished for Colebatch to return during the election campaign. Colebatch's term was therefore extended into
1927. Early that year he was made
Knight Bachelor. He also travelled extensively throughout
Europe in that year, and met
Benito Mussolini.
When Colebatch returned to Western Australia in
1927, the premier
Philip Collier commissioned him to take charge of writing a book commemorating the state's centenary.
A Story of a Hundred Years: Western Australia 1829–1929, edited by Hal Colebatch, was published in
1929.
While he was working on
A Story of a Hundred Years, Colebatch was asked by the
Prime Minister Stanley Bruce to sit on a
Royal Commission into the
Constitution of Australia. The commission travelled throughout Australia and held 198 sittings. Colebatch's strong federalist stance stopped the Commission from recommending abandonment of the federal system and unification of the states, but the Commission's recommendations were largely ignored anyhow.
In
1928, during the Royal Commission's sittings, Colebatch was elected to the
Australian Senate. He took his seat on
1 July 1929, holding it until
20 March 1933, when he was again offered the position of Agent-General for Western Australia in London. Colebatch's time as a Senator was a frustrating period for him, as his advocacy of
free trade as a means of international co-operation and peace was extremely unpopular at the time. His most important contribution during this time was the establishment of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, whose purpose is to vet government regulations that are made by executive action without reference to parliament, to ensure that they do not adversely affect the rights of citizens. Later he became heavily involved in the Western Australian
secession campaign, and after he became Agent-General for the second time, he was asked to lead the delegation that unsuccessfully petitioned the
British Parliament for secession.
Colebatch's second appointment as Agent-General for Western Australia lasted from
1933 until
1939. During this time he again travelled widely throughout Europe, and made contact with German anti-
Nazis, who were trying to forestall the rise of
Adolf Hitler. After returning to
Western Australia, he worked tirelessly to awaken Australia to the necessity of preparing for war. He was widowed early in
1940. On
11 May 1940 he was elected to the Legislative Council for the
Metropolitan Province. In
1944 he married Marion Frances Gibson. He held his Legislative Council seat until
1948; in the
1948 election, the Liberal Party tried without success to dissuade Colebatch from nominating, and then endorsed two candidates. The other candidate,
H. Hearn, won comfortably.
In the final years of his life, Colebatch's main achievement was the writing of his autobiography, which has never been published. He died on
12 February 1953 after a brief illness, and received a state funeral the following day. He was survived by his second wife and three sons. His third son, also named
Hal Colebatch, is a well-known
author.
# H. G. P. Colebatch (2004) gives Hal Colebatch's first wife's name as
Mary Maude Saunders; Black and Bolton (2001) as
Mary Maud Saunders; and Reid and Oliver (1982) as
Maud Mary Saunders.# Perth
Daily News,
3 October 1924. Quoted in H. G. P. Colebatch (2004).
* De Garis, Brian K. (1962). A Political Biography of Sir Hal Colebatch. Masters Thesis, University of Western Australia.
