Sir Herbert John Thornhill Hyland (15 March 1884 – 18 March 1970), storekeeper, investor, and politician, was born in 1884 at

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...

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 ...

, second son of George Hyland, a Victorian-born painter, and his wife Mary, née Thornhill, from Ireland.

Early life

Herbert's grandfather was John Hyland, one of the first settlers of the

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popul ...

and Prahran regions. The Hyland family also participated in the 1 November 1837 land sale, purchasing an allotment between Bourke St and Little Bourke st, Melbourne (after Williamstown nomination of Melbourne's first Magistrate, and were the original owners of the Freemason's Tavern, South Yarra. Herbert attended Caulfield state school until the early deaths of his parents forced him to leave at the age of 12 and take a job in a grocery store in Glenhuntly. Hyland eventually moved to

South Gippsland South Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. Low granite hills continue into Wilsons Promon ...

, establishing his own general store and mixed grocery business. On 8 May 1912 at her parents' home at Galaquil he married with

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

forms 18-year-old Amelia Mary Barratt (died 1968); their son and daughter were to predecease him, to his deep distress.

Career

As Hyland's business flourished, he diversified into dairy farming and became a major landowner in the region. He was ruled unfit for war service, but proved a staunch advocate of soldier settlers. Elected in 1923 to the Woorayl shire council (president 1928–1929), he took an increasingly active role in community affairs, joined the Country Party and served as president of its Central Gippsland district council. His commercial ventures proved so profitable in the late 1920s that he was able to retire early and devote himself to community causes. In 1927 Hyland unsuccessfully contested the newly created seat of

Wonthaggi Wonthaggi is a seaside town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Known originally for its coal mining, it is now the largest town in South Gippsl ...

in the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

. In 1929, with the aid of preferences from the Labor Party, Hyland defeated the sitting

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: The ...

member for the seat of Gippsland South and entered state parliament. Appointed minister without portfolio in the minority Country Party government of Sir

Albert Dunstan Sir Albert Arthur Dunstan, KCMG (26 July 1882 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian politician. A member of the Country Party (now National Party), Dunstan was the 33rd premier of Victoria. His term as premier was the second-longest in th ...

in June 1936, Hyland was promoted to various ministries, both in minority Country Party and in coalition cabinets, until the election of the

Cain Cain ''Káïn''; ar, قابيل/قايين, Qābīl/Qāyīn is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He wa ...

government in 1952 brought a temporary halt to the instability of Victorian politics. Hyland's portfolios included Transport (1938–43), Chief Secretary (1943–45), State Development (1947–48 and 1950–52), Labour (1947–48), Decentralisation (1948) and Transport and Prices (1950–52).

Knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1952, Hyland was elected leader of the parliamentary Country Party in 1955. In the early years of Sir

Henry Bolte Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG (20 May 1908 – 4 January 1990) was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Victoria. To date he is the longest-serving Victorian premier, having been in office for over 17 consecutive years. E ...

's Liberal government, Hyland took advantage of the premier's inexperience to extract concessions, especially relating to freight charges. Hyland often railed against Bolte for his alleged

bias. Often Hyland was given to extravagant and vituperative language. In a debate in parliament in 1958 he called Bolte a 'mongrel' and referred to another minister as 'a stupid looking goof'. He was suspended from parliament in 1960 for describing the speaker as being 'as silly as a billy goat'. Despite these outbursts, Hyland was generally liked by his colleagues. Hyland was unexpectedly replaced as parliamentary leader of the Country Party by George Moss in 1964.

Death

Sir Herbert Hyland died on 18 March 1970 at

Prahran, Victoria Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a po ...

; he was accorded a state funeral and was cremated with

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

rites.

Honours

Numerous roadways are named after the Hyland family, including Hyland Street,

(named after John Hyland, owner of the block between Argos St, Moore St and Hyland St) and the Hyland Highway being named after Herbert.

Personal life

His widow Lady Elsie, known as Joan, who was 37 years his junior (born 27 February 1921), died on 12 August 2013.

References

Watson D., Australian Dictionary of Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyland, Herbert 1884 births 1970 deaths Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Australian Knights Bachelor Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Australian people of Irish descent Politicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian politicians People from Prahran, Victoria