Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch (29 March 1872 – 12 February 1953) was a long-serving figure in Western Australian politics. He 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. He was known for supporting free trade, federalism and Western Australian secessionism, and for opposing communism, socialism and fascism. Born in England, his family migrated to South Australia when Colebatch was four years old. He 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. In 1894, he moved to the Western Australian Goldfields following the gold rush there, working for the Golden Age in Coolgardie and the Kalgoorlie Miner in Kalgoorlie. Two years later, he moved to Perth to join the Morning Herald, but after that newspaper collapsed, he moved to Northam where he started The Northam Advertiser. He also became friends with local bank manager James Mitchell and convinced Mitchell to run for state parliament. Colebatch was the mayor of Northam between 1909 and 1912.
Colebatch became a member of parliament himself when he was elected to the East Province of the Legislative Council in 1912. Upon Frank Wilson becoming premier in July 1916, Colebatch was appointed Minister for Education and Colonial Secretary. During a Spanish flu outbreak in South Australia and Victoria in early 1919, Colebatch was Acting Premier as Premier Henry Lefroy was travelling interstate. Colebatch chose to close the Western Australian border, leaving Lefroy and two ministers stuck outside the state. In April 1919, Lefroy resigned as premier and Colebatch took over, making him the only premier to come from the Legislative Council rather than the Legislative Assembly. The major event during his premiership was the 1919 Fremantle Wharf riot, in which two unions were fighting with each other. Colebatch resigned as premier one month after taking the job and was succeeded by Mitchell.
Colebatch served as a minister in the James ministry for four years, but resigned to become agent-general in 1923. He served most of his time as agent-general under a Labor government as Phillip Collier beat Mitchell in an election in March 1924. While agent-general, he toured Italy and met Benito Mussolini, which led him to form his anti-fascist political beliefs. After returning to Australia in 1927, he wrote a book at the request of Collier on the history of Western Australia to commemorate the state's centenary. He also sat on the Royal Commission on the Constitution. In 1928, he was elected to the Australian Senate, where he spent much of his time criticising protectionism, blaming it for worsening the Great Depression. He resigned in 1933 to take the position of agent-general again.
The Western Australian secession referendum occurred soon after Colebatch became agent-general, in which 66.23% of electors voted in favour of seceding. Colebatch was thus appointed to lead a delegation to the British Parliament to request secession. The delegation was unsuccessful, with a parliamentary select committee deciding that allowing Western Australia to secede would go against constitutional conventions. 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. After returning to Australia, he was elected to the Legislative Council again, this time for the Metropolitan Province. He would serve there for eight years, and during this time, would frequently write in The Northam Advertiser about his view on World War II. He contested the 1948 election but failed to be elected. Colebatch died in 1953 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.
Early life and career
Colebatch was born on 29 March 1872 in the village of Underley near Wolferlow in Herefordshire, England, to George Pateshall Colebatch, a chemist and farmer, and Georgina Gardiner.
Northam
The Morning Herald eventually collapsed, and so in 1904, Colebatch moved to Northam, a town in Western Australia's Wheatbelt. Largely using borrowed money, he bought his own newspaper: The Northam Advertiser. A friend from Broken Hill, J. T. Nichols, was put in charge of printing the newspaper, leaving Colebatch in charge of the journalism, allowing the newspaper to prosper. By this point, he had two sons: Harley and Gordon Lindsay, and was looking for a more settled life. He lived in Northam for years to come.
In Northam, Colebatch became friends with local bank branch manager and future premier James Mitchell. Impressed by Mitchell, Colebatch encouraged Mitchell to stand for state parliament and he became Mitchell's campaign manager. Mitchell won the Legislative Assembly seat of Northam in the 1905 state election, defeating the incumbent Labor candidate, and held it until 1933. Although Colebatch was the better public speaker of the two, he often put Mitchell's political career ahead of his own. Although he likely would have probably easily won it, Colebatch did not contest the seat as he would have to oust his friend. Mitchell rose rapidly in the ranks of government, becoming a minister in 1906 and obtaining the important portfolios of lands and agriculture in 1909. During this time, Colebatch was seen as Mitchell's éminence grise.
Colebatch founded the Northam Bowling Club and also took a part in creating a bowling club in the nearby town of York. In 1905, he won the state championship in bowls pairs and became the vice-president of the Western Australian Bowling Association. He 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. In November 1909, after being nominated by the retiring mayor, Oscar Bernard. 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. Colebatch managed to secure several large grants from the state government for these works.
State politics
He 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. Colebatch came second out of the three candidates, being beat by the more well known Warren Marwick. He then received a petition from 72 electors to run again, so he contested the newly-created seat of Avon in the 1911 state election. He was narrowly defeated by Thomas Bath from the Labor Party. In early 1912, Colebatch and Mitchell formed a Liberal League in Northam. Colebatch was also 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, Colebatch was elected to the executive committee of the Liberal Party.
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. The most likely route was to be via Midland and Northam, where there was already a line, but there was an alternative proposal via Armadale and Brookton, which is also in the East Province. Marwick chose to support the Armadale-Brookton route, which resulted in his unpopularity within Northam. A public meeting in Northam decided that a better candidate must contest the East Province, and so Colebatch became a last-minute candidate. He supported the transcontinental railway line passing through Northam and a developmental railway being built from Armadale to Brookton. Colebatch won the East Province, beating Marwick by a small margin in every polling place except for in Marwick's home town of York. Colebatch took his seat on 27 June 1912. He did not contest the November 1912 Northam municipal election and was succeeded as mayor by Bernard.
In opposition
Colebatch was part of the newly-formed Liberal Party, however in his maiden speech, he said he would always speak for his individual feelings. At the time, John Scaddan had been premier for a year and the Labor Party had a substantial majority in the Legislative Assembly, however the Legislative Council had a conservative majority. According to historian Brian De Garis, "for a man like Colebatch, there could not have been a more opportune moment for launching a parliamentary career". He 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. Colebatch would soon become the Scaddan government's harshest critic in the Legislative Council and Labor members grew to dread his speeches.
The Scaddan government felt that establishing and expanding government enterprises was in the best interests of the state, something that Colebatch was strongly opposed to. The government set out to establish state-run and state-subsidised brickworks, sawmills, quarries, hotels, dairies, ferries, butcher shops, fish shops, brick works, tramways, meat works, quarries and abattoirs.
Colebatch lead the opposition to the Tramways Purchase Bill 1912, which sought to nationalise trams in Perth. He 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. The bill was passed anyway, but it earned Colebatch a reputation as a "hard fighter and a brilliant speaker". Two of the most important bills passed in this session of parliament were the Workers' Compensation Act and the Industrial Arbitration Act. Workers' Compensation previously only applied to certain occupations, but the new act extended it to apply to all workers earning less than £300 per annum. Although he did not vote against it, Colebatch criticised the bill for hurting employers and was successful in limiting parts of the bill. The Industrial Arbitration Act consolidated previous legislation and made it easier for unions to approach the Court of Arbitration. Colebatch opposed the bill for preferencing unionists and hampering the ability of industries to compete with overseas firms. Eventually the two sides met and worked out a compromise which the government and the opposition could both support. One bill that Colebatch was especially interested in was the Water Rights and Irrigation Bill. The bill was referred to a select committee that he was the chairman of and he introduced many of the amendments that the committee recommended. The amendments were not accepted by the Legislative Assembly though and the bill did not pass. The following year, the bill was introduced again, but it failed to pass again. It eventually passed in 1914.
By 1913, Colebatch had gained a prominent position in the Liberal Party's governance. In February 1913, he was elected as a vice-president of the party's executive committee. His opponents used this to attack his claimed position of being above party politics.
One of the bills the government introduced in 1913 was the Electoral Districts Bill, which proposed having commissioners design the electoral districts rather than parliament and introduced equally-populated constituencies for all of Western Australia except for three seats in the north of the state. This would have increased the number of metropolitan districts at the expense of rural districts. 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". He proposed seven amendments, including that rural districts should have 20 percent fewer voters and metropolitan districts should have more voters. The Legislative Council accepted these amendments but the Legislative Assembly did not, meaning the bill was unable to pass.
Matthew Moss, the unofficial leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council, retired at the 1914 election, enabling Colebatch to take the position. During 1914, Colebatch lead the opposition to the Income Tax (War Emergency) Bill, which was to raise taxes mainly to support farmers during the drought which was occurring at the time. 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. The bill was defeated by the Legislative Council by eighteen votes to six. The following year, Colebatch opposed the Income and Public Entertainments Taxation Bill, which was expected to increase taxation so that money could be spent on public works to create jobs. He believed that the money would better off with private enterprise, which would be able to provide more jobs and greater benefits to the state.
In government
In July 1916, the Liberal and Country parties cooperated to pass a vote of no confidence in the Scaddan Government. Labor had been left with a minority of seats in the Legislative Assembly following several resignations and the Country Party had drifted closer to the Liberal Party compared to when they were initially elected to parliament in 1914. The Liberal Party's Frank Wilson became premier, and although he had only been in parliament for four years, Colebatch was an obvious choice to join the ministry and lead the government in the Legislative Council. By this time, Colebatch was looked at by some as the state's next John Forrest, and so he was appointed Minister for Education and Colonial Secretary. Mitchell was also a member of the ministry, being appointed Minister for Railways and Minister for Water Supply.
The colonial secretary was responsible for numerous miscellaneous departments, including charities, public health, aborigines, public gardens, the state shipping service. Although the colonial secretary had to introduce many bills and answer many questions in parliament, it was not a role that allowed for high achievement to shine. On the other hand, the role of education minister allowed for this, and Colebatch found this to be his favourite portfolio. He later claimed that he was appointed education minister due to his advocacy for country high schools when Wilson was previously premier.
Parliament was adjourned for seven weeks for ministerial by-elections to take place. Colebatch was subsequently elected unopposed. Soon after parliament resumed, it was adjourned again for the 1916 Australian conscription referendum campaign. Like most Liberal politicians, Colebatch supported conscription, and his rhetoric grew more and more nationalistic as the campaign went on. Western Australia ended up voting for conscription, whereas nationally, the majority voted against conscription. Meanwhile, both of Colebatch's sons enlisted in the army and in 1917, they went to fight in France in World War I. Gordon was severely injured by a shell blast and suffered the effects of this for the rest of his life. To help raise funds for soldiers and dependents in need, Colebatch was the chairman of the Western Australian War Patriotic Fund.
The parliamentary session under the Wilson government only got underway in November 1916. The government passed the Trading Concerns Act, which put all trading concerns on a commercial basis as well as preventing the establishment of trading concerns without the approval of parliament, preventing the government from using its executive power to do so like the Scaddan government often did. The State Fish Supplies, which was one of Colebatch's responsibilities, was shut down due to not being commercially viable. On the other hand, the State Steamship Service proved viable and was not shut down.
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. He introduced a bill to outlaw bookmaking in 1916, but it was not passed by parliament. A success that Colebatch had as colonial secretary was to convert Rottnest Island from a prison to a holiday resort. The island was made an A-class reserve in 1917 and Colebatch was appointed as the first president of the Rottnest Island Board of Control. Some prisoners were retained for the first few years as cheap labour, but by 1922, the last prisoners were removed from the island.
In May 1917, the Liberal Party was disbanded and turned into the Nationalist Party, and in June, the new party elected Henry Lefroy as its leader. Wilson resigned as premier, and so Lefroy was appointed to the position. Colebatch became the unofficial deputy premier and kept his previous positions in the new ministry. The anti-secessionist Federal League objected to 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. He resigned from the Senate on 20 March 1933 and assumed the position of agent-general five days later.
thumb|From left to right: [[Matthew Moss, Keith Watson, James MacCallum Smith and Hal Colebatch on top of the Savoy Hotel in London holding the Dominion Flag|alt=Black and white photograph of four men dressed in suits standing on a balcony holding a large flag depicting the Union Jack with a black swan in the centre.]]
On 8 April 1933, the Western Australian secession referendum occurred, in which 66.23% of electors voted in favour of seceding. The 1933 state election occurred on the same day, in which the Mitchell government was defeated by the anti-secessionist Labor party, led by Phillip Collier. Despite having worked well with Collier last time he was agent-general, Colebatch's position was precarious due to his advocacy for secession. Nevertheless, Collier chose to honour the electorate's wish by sending a delegation to London to ask the British Parliament for permission to secede. Colebatch urged for Collier to be part of the delegation but he chose not to. 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.
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. J. H. Thomas, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, told Colebatch that the British Government had no intention on allowing secession but it would nevertheless receive the delegation courteously. This pleased Colebatch, who now did not have to worry about the intricacies and consequences of secession. When Edward John Harding, the permanent under-secretary for the dominions, asked Colebatch if Western Australia really wanted to secede, he replied that the movement would subside if Western Australia received fairer treatment from the Commonwealth. The petition was presented to both houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in December 1934 and was then referred to a select committee which determined that although the British Parliament had the legal power to pass an act for the secession of Western Australia, it would go against constitutional conventions unless the petition came as the "clearly expressed wish of the Australian people as a whole". As a result, the British Parliament rejected the petition.
When Watson suggested armed rebellion if the petition was rejected, Colebatch issued a statement distancing the Western Australian government from these comments. The secession movement faded away after it was clear that the British Parliament was not interested. 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. The federal government also began spending more on defence in Western Australia; it had spent almost nothing prior to that. It created the Fremantle Fortress on Rottnest Island, which included 9.2-inch naval guns to defend Fremantle.
Other
In 1933, Colebatch issued an invitation to tender for the construction of a new generator at East Perth Power Station. He was frustrated when he was forced to accept a British tender rather than a German tender which was £40,000 cheaper because the German tender was subject to import duties worth more than £40,000. He also arranged the purchase of the MV Koolama and new railcars and trolleybuses. After Australia increased duties on imported glassware, the Belgian Government retaliated by blocking imports on Australian goods, which affected the apple and meat industry in Western Australia. Colebatch was able to convince the Minister for Commerce, Earle Page, to negotiate with Belgium to reopen trade. Colebatch also proposed an Australian Trade Council which was to consist of the agents-general and the high commissioner to the United Kingdom. This was accepted by the premiers in 1934 but did not eventuate as High Commissioner Stanley Bruce did not want to do so.
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. He also became a freeman of the City of London. He represented Australia at the funeral of King George V and the coronation of King George VI. He 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, Colebatch negotiated with the Dominions Office for Mitchell to be appointed. Up until that point, all governors had been British-born and the British Government wanted to ensure that the appointment of Mitchell did not rule out appointing British governors in the future.
In 1936, Colebatch was reappointed Agent-General. He 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. He accepted the invitations on the condition that he was not paid for his lectures. After that, he went to Germany with Albert Edward Heath, the agent-general for New South Wales, and Arthur Balfour, 1st Baron Riverdale. The official reason for visiting Germany was to go to the Leipzig Trade Fair, but he also met with several anti-fascist Germans who sought to open Germany to trade with the outside world, as well as several Nazi political figures such as Hjalmar Schacht and Joachim von Ribbentrop. He later went on a lecture tour of England and Scotland for the Overseas League, where he urged for Britain to adopt conscription. When the Perth Trades Hall heard about this, it urged the state government to sack Colebatch.
In mid-1937, Colebatch returned to Germany with Heath and G. H. Morrison, an Australian journalist living in Germany, to attend the International Chamber of Commerce in Berlin. Colebatch described the event as propaganda designed to impress the delegates. He was also given a tour of a labour camp and a concentration camp, possibly Sachsenhausen. Colebatch described the camp as "specially selected for display to visitors". In February 1939, he gave the centenary address to the Cobden Club. Albeit keen to continue as agent-general, when Colebatch's term was up in 1939, a former Labor minister, Frank Troy, was appointed in his place. Colebatch then returned to Perth.
Back in Australia
During World War II, Colebatch was the vice-president of the State Executive Committee for raising war funds. Brian De Garis wrote that "he could take satisfaction in the good record of Western Australia in this respect, for it raised more per head in War Savings Certificates than the wealthier and more populous states." He used his position in The Northam Advertiser to urge readers to take the war seriously and prepare the country for what was to come, as well as further advocate for conscription.
Colebatch was again elected to the Legislative Council, this time to the Metropolitan Province, taking his seat in July 1940. At this time, he was living in Lawson Flats in the Perth central business district. He believed that parliament could use his experience in local, national and international affairs during the war. Among the things he opposed was legislation designed to prevent foreigners from growing potatoes, and a bill to amend the Parliamentary Allowances Act to increase the retirement payments for MPs. He was also the chairman of the Royal Commission into the Care and Reform of Youthful Delinquents.
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 Colebatch elected though, and only helped the other candidate. Colebatch lost the election as a result.
Death
After a short illness, Colebatch died on 12 February 1953 at Royal Perth Hospital. He received a state funeral on 13 February at St George's Cathedral. Despite the state election occurring on the following day, the pallbearers included Premier Ross McLarty, Chief Secretary Victor Doney, Speaker Charles North, Deputy Opposition Leader John Tonkin, President of the Legislative Council Harold Seddon, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly F. E. Islip, Lord Mayor of Perth Joseph Totterdell, Frank Gibson, George Lowe Sutton, William Pickering and Sydney Stubbs. Federal Minister for Territories Paul Hasluck represented the Commonwealth Government. His net worth at the time of his death was only slightly above £2000, owning no house or car. He was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery. They had two sons: Harley Colebatch and Gordon Lindsay Colebatch. Both sons fought in France during World War I and Gordon was severely injured by a shell burst. Mary Maud Saunders died on 20 January 1940.