Bernard Henry Corser (4 January 1882 – 15 December 1967) was a politician in

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 ...

, Australia. He was a 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 ...

from 1912 to 1928 and a 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 o ...

from 1928 to 1954.

Early life

Corser was born at Maryborough in 1882 to

Edward Corser Edward Bernard Cresset Corser (1852 – 31 July 1928) was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for Maryborough from 1909 to 1915 and a Commonwealth Liberal Party and then Nationali ...

and Mary Jane (née Stewart). He was educated at Maryborough Christian Brothers' School, Riverview College, Sydney, and returned to Queensland to study at Queensland Agricultural College, Gatton.

Politics

In 1912, he was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland 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 Assembl ...

as the member for Burnett, joining the National Party on its formation in 1917. He held the seat until 1928. By 1928, Corser had joined the Country Party and was elected to the

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the seat of Wide Bay, which was caused by the death of his father, who was then the serving

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

MP. In April 1939, the leader of the Country Party's senior Coalition partner the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

, Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

, died, and the leader of the Country Party,

Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 188020 December 1961) was an Australian surgeon and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office for 19 days after the death of Joseph Lyons in 1939. He was the leade ...

, became caretaker Prime Minister. The likely replacement for Lyons was Robert Menzies, but Page attacked him. Together with

Arthur Fadden Sir Arthur William Fadden, (13 April 189421 April 1973) was an Australian politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958 and also served ...

, Thomas Collins and

Oliver Badman Albert Oliver Badman (18 December 1885 – 24 April 1977) was an Australian politician. Born in Yacka, South Australia, he was educated at state schools before becoming a wheat farmer and wheat breeder. He was a Methodist lay preacher and P ...

, Corser dissociated himself from Page, and when the latter resigned as leader, the four were barred from the party meeting that elected Page supporter

Archie Cameron Archie Galbraith Cameron (22 March 18959 August 1956) was an Australian politician. He was a government minister under Joseph Lyons and Robert Menzies, leader of the Country Party from 1939 to 1940, and finally Speaker of the House of Represe ...

as leader. As a result, Corser and his colleagues rejected Cameron's leadership.

Later life

Corser retired from politics in 1954 and became a grazier. He died in 1967 and was buried in

Northern Suburbs Cemetery Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

.Corser, Bernard Henry (1882–1967)
— Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 5 February 2015.

References

Commonwealth Liberal Party politicians National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wide Bay Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1882 births 1967 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians National Party (Queensland, 1917) members of the Parliament of Queensland {{Australia-National-politician-stub