Edward Costello (7 February 1883 – 27 June 1967) was an Australian

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and grazier. 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 ...

Early days

Costello was born in Thane's Creek near

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

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_ ...

, to parents James Costello, and his wife Elizabeth Mary (née Ham). The Costello family took up mining grazing leases at Thanes Creek in 1881. Costello was educated at Thane State School. He followed in his father's footsteps in becoming a grazier.

Military service

Soon after the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined the military and was the commanding officer of the 25th Battalion in the

Australian Military Forces The Australian Military Forces (AMF) was the official name of the Army of Australia from 1916 to 1980. This encompassed both the (full-time) "regular army", and the (part-time) forces, variously known during this period as the Militia, the Citizen ...

and a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

of the 11th Light Horse Regiment. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for bravery during the Battle of Semakh, on the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

on the 25 September 1918. This action was claimed to be the only charge ever made by the British Cavalry before daylight. In 1919 he was the Chairman of the Military Courts for the

Egyptian Rebellion According to most scholars the history of modern Egypt dates from the start of Muhammad Ali's rule in 1805 and his launching of Egypt's modernization project that involved building a new army and suggesting a new map for the country, though the ...

Political career

In 1920, Costello, as a Country Party candidate, won the seat of Carnarvon in the

. In 1925 the party merged into the

Country and Progressive National Party The Country and Progressive National Party was a short-lived conservative political party in the Australian state of Queensland. Formed in 1925, it combined the state's conservative forces in a single party and held office between 1929 and 1932 ...

and Costello held Carnarvon until his defeat in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

Personal life

In 1924 his family purchased ''Seagoe'', a

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

property at

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talukas ...

. In 1924, Costello married Ruth Evelyn Harn (died 1969)Family history research
— Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 26 February 2016. and together had two sons and two daughters. He was a stalwart of the RSL Warwick Subbranch and a former patron of the Spurs and Feathers Club. He was a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. Costello died at Warwick in 1967 after suffering a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Edward Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1883 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians