Alexander James Inch (23 October 1915 – 3 July 1994) was an

Engine driver A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

and member of the

Queensland Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly h ...

Early days

Inch was born at

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits unde ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, to Alexander William and his wife Elizabeth Genevieve (née Lacey) and was educated at St Columbus Primary School and Mount Carmel Christian Brothers in Charters Towers. During the depression, Inch worked in the pastoral industry and also doing railway maintenance. By the early 1940s, he had become a 1st class engine driver in Innisfail and in the 1950s he was a 1st class electrical and general winding-engine driver working for

Mount Isa Mines Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has ...

Political career

At the 1960 election the seat of

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

was reincarnated and Inch, standing for the Labor Party, won the seat. He held the seat until 1972 when it was once again abolished and Inch moved to the new seat of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, base ...

but did not contest the seat in 1974.

Personal life

On the 17 Dec 1938, Inch married Rita Alice Morgans and together had one son. He died in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inch, Alec Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1915 births 1994 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland 20th-century Australian politicians