James Tolmie (25 July 1862 – 6 April 1939) was a member of the
Parliament of Queensland
The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...
,
newspaper proprietor, and
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 ...
.
[
]
History
James Tolmie was born on the ship ''Registan'' in Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
, just outside Brisbane, Queensland
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 ...
on 25 July 1862,[ to Roderick Tolmie and his wife Helen (née Macrae), who were coming from Scotland to Queensland.][ The eldest of a family of nine children, he was educated at the South State School, ]Toowoomba
Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...
, and began as a pupil teacher in 1877. In 1894 he became editor, with a half-share interest, of the ''Darling Downs Gazette
The ''Darling Downs Gazette'' was a newspaper published from 1848 to 1922 in Drayton and Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia.
History
''The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser'' was founded in 1858 by Arthur Sidney Lyon. The first issu ...
'', a position he held until that paper's amalgamation with the ''Toowoomba Chronicle
''The Toowoomba Chronicle'' is a daily newspaper serving Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs regional areas in Queensland, Australia.
As of 2016, the newspaper is owned by News Corp Australia, and forms part of their Regional Medi ...
'' in 1922.[ He was a notable athlete in his younger days, being particularly proficient as ]footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
and cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er.[
]
Political career
He was elected to the Queensland Parliament for the double electorate of Drayton and Toowoomba in 1901[ He was Minister for Agriculture and Stock in the ]Denham Ministry
The Denham Ministry was the 26th ministry of the Government of Queensland and was led by Premier Digby Denham, who led the Ministerialist party consisting of a mixture of liberals and conservatives. It succeeded the Kidston Ministry on 7 Februar ...
from 1911 to 1912, and was Secretary for Public Lands from 1912 to 1915.[ He was re-elected in 1915, when the Denham Government was defeated, and was Leader of the Opposition until he was forced to resign in 1918 due to ill health.][Tolmie, James (1862–1939)]
– ''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 12 January 2015. At the general election in 1918 he was defeated by F. T. Brennan, better known as Judge Brennan. From 1924 to 1927 he was an alderman of the City of Toowoomba
The City of Toowoomba was a local government area in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, encompassing the centre and inner suburbs of the regional city of Toowoomba. The City covered an area of , and existed as a local governmen ...
.[
]
Other interests
Before the Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
in 1901, Tolmie was a captain in the Fourth Queensland Regiment, and during 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 ...
was major in command of a troop ship.[ He was a loyal adherent of the Presbyterian Church and a Freemason.]
Family
Mr. Tolmie, who did not marry, died in 1939 and was buried in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery
Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at the corner of South Street and Anzac Avenue, Harristown, Queensland, Australia. It was surveyed in May 1850, and is one of the earliest surviving cemeteries in Queensland. The cem ...
.[James Tolmie]
— Toowoomba Regional Council
The Toowoomba Region is a local government area located in the Darling Downs part of Queensland, Australia. Established in 2008, it was preceded by several previous local government areas with histories extending back to the early 1900s and beyo ...
. Retrieved 12 January 2015. He was survived by five sisters, one of whom married Herbert Yeates MLA. Nephews included Dr. Derick Yeates FRCS, of Brisbane, Herbert Yeates, a barrister, of Brisbane, and Fergus Yeates, former Queensland Sheffield Shield
The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...
slow bowler, and lecturer at Sydney University
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...
and James McRae Yeates for whom the James McRae Yeates prize for clinical surgery was named.
See also
* Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1899–1902; 1902–1904; 1904–1907; 1909–1912; 1912–1915; 1915–1918
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolmie, James
Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
1862 births
1939 deaths
Colony of Queensland people