Bernard Henry Corser (4 January 1882 – 15 December 1967) was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1912 to 1928 and a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1928 to 1954.

Early life

Corser was born at Maryborough in 1882 to Edward Corser 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 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 Australian House of Representatives in a by-election for the seat of Wide Bay, which was caused by the death of his father, who was then the serving Nationalist MP. In April 1939, the leader of the Country Party's senior

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

partner the United Australia Party, Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

, died, and the leader of the Country Party, Earle Page, became caretaker Prime Minister. The likely replacement for Lyons was

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

, but Page attacked him. Together with Arthur Fadden, Thomas Collins and Oliver Badman, 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 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.Corser, Bernard Henry (1882–1967)
—

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

. 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