Alexander Paterson (24 January 1844 – 23 March 1908) was an independent member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

, representing the

Division of Capricornia The Division of Capricornia is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Capricornia is a traditionally a Labor-voting electorate, having been Labor-held for 72 years of the 100 years since 1922. However, Capricornia has recently trended ...

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 , established_ ...

. Born in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, Paterson worked as a shipping manager before migrating to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1875. In Australia, Paterson was involved in business ventures in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Queensland, gaining enough stature in Queensland to be elected to the inaugural Australian parliament. Paterson contested the seat of Capricornia in the 1901 Federal election, winning by a margin of 139 votes over the ALP candidate

Wallace Nelson Wallace Alexander Nelson (29 April 1856 – 5 May 1943) was a short term Western Australian politician. He represented the electoral district of Hannans from 1904 to 1905 in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. He was described as the ...

. On 15 June 1901, during the first parliament of the Commonwealth, the ''Immigration Restriction Bill 1901'' was introduced, defined as ''A Bill for an Act to place certain restrictions on Immigration and to provide for the removal from the Commonwealth of Prohibited Immigrants''. The wording of the bill also listed in its definitions that restrictions "means any person who is unable to write out 50 words in a European language dictated by an officer". Paterson spoke in favour of the bill, and in particular of the 'Chinese problem'. The bill was subsequently passed, and set in motion what is popularly known as the

White Australia policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

, which survived until late in the 20th century. Paterson did not contest the subsequent election for health reasons, and retired from politics. He died at his home in

on 23 March 1908, after years of ill health. He was survived by his wife and five children.

References

Independent members of the Parliament of Australia 1844 births 1908 deaths Scottish businesspeople in shipping Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Capricornia People from Greenock Scottish emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub