George Pollock (27 June 1890 – 24 March 1939) 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 ...

. He was the

Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland is elected by the members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly to preside over sittings of the Assembly and to maintain orderly proceedings. The Speaker must be a member of the Legislative ...

from 1932 until 1939 and died by a self-administered gunshot wound in Parliament House in 1939.

Biography

Pollock 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 under ...

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_ ...

, the son of Matthew Pollock and his wife Naomi (née Gauvin). He was educated at Richmond Hill State School in Charters Towers and for most of his working life he engaged in bush work in Western and Northern Queensland. On 27 December 1909 he married Margaret Adeline Shepherd and together had two sons and a daughter. Pollock died at Parliament House,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in March 1939.

Public career

Pollock, a member of the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, was unopposed for the seat of Gregory at the 1915

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 ...

caused by the resignation of the sitting member, William Hamilton. He had a long career representing the electorate and it ended with his death in 1939. He was the Chairman of Committees from 1924-1929 and

from 1932 until 1939. During his time in parliament he built up an extensive knowledge of standing orders which he used to great advantage against the Moore Government between 1929–1932. On becoming Speaker he served the position with dignity and distinctionMotion of Condolence
—

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...

. Retrieved 15 May 2016. and he strictly interpreted the standing orders and kept close control over the House. He even once rebuked his leader, Premier Forgan Smith, for reading his speech on a bill, something that is not permitted in parliament.

Death

For the last several years of his life Pollock was in poor health and for his last two years he was in need of a walking stick. On 24 March 1939, he could take no more and shot himself with a shotgun he used for pigeon shooting. A note was found and it read: ''A complete nervous and mental breakdown. Cannot carry on. Too much pain.'' He signed his name to it and underneath was a postscript which read: ''My poor, tortured brain. Goodbye to my loved ones.'' His body was found when the manageress of the parliamentary refreshment room, (Miss Curnow) went to inquire what Pollock would like for lunch. She went back to the refreshment rooms and told the Premier what had happened. He went to Pollock's room and found him, apparently dead, and ordered that the doctor and police be immediately summoned. Upon leaving the room, Forgan Smith forgot to leave it unlocked and the police had to gain entrance by walking along a narrow parapet on the first floor and climbing through the window. Besides some of his parliamentary colleagues, his funeral, which was held the next day, was a private affair. It proceeded from the funeral parlour of K.M. Smith in South Brisbane to the

Mt Thompson Crematorium Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens and Crematorium (formerly Brisbane Crematorium) includes a heritage-listed chapel (the West Chapel), columbaria and other features. It is located on north-western slopes of Mount Thompson in Brisbane, Australia. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, George Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1890 births 1939 deaths Suicides by firearm in Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian politicians who committed suicide Deaths by firearm in Queensland Suicides in Queensland 20th-century Australian politicians