Robert "Bob" Fraser (1843 – 9 September 1918) was a

Mayor of Brisbane This is a list of the Mayors and Lord Mayors of the City of Brisbane, a local government area of Queensland, Australia. The current Lord Mayor of Brisbane is Adrian Schrinner. Mayors of the Brisbane Municipal Council (1859–1903) The Town ...

and 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 h ...

Early years

Fraser was born in

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness. The land around B ...

, Inverness to parents Robert Fraser and his wife Christina (née Grant) and educated at Balbair. He began his working career as an apprentice

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period, ...

Tranent Tranent is a town in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the paris ...

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

, before working as assistant manager and then general manager of McLaren Smith & Co, warehousemen, Glasgow for ten years starting in 1868. He arrived in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

in 1878 and began work with D. L. Brown and Co. where he worked in the woolen section of their department store. From 1888 he ran his own drapery business for twenty years until his retirement in 1908.

Political career

Fraser first entered politics in 1891 as an alderman in Brisbane and remained on the council until 1906. During this time, he was Mayor of Brisbane from 1894 until 1895. He stood as a candidate for the two member seat of Brisbane North at the 1896 elections. Although opposing the Ministerial Government representatives of T. J. Byrnes and J.J. Kingsbury, both Fraser and his partner, Thomas MacDonald-Paterson, claimed to also be members of the Ministerialist group. In a tight contest, both Fraser and MacDonald-Paterson won a seat. Fraser held the seat for three years before being defeated Edward Forrest by at the 1899 elections.

Personal life

Fraser married Emily Wherry in Scotland and together had three daughters. He was one of the founders of the Scottish Rifles of which he was an honorary captain. He was also a founder of

lawn bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

in Queensland and was a life member of the Booroodabin Bowls Club. Fraser was at one-time president of the

Tattersalls Club Tattersalls Club is a heritage-listed club house at 206 Edward Street (with a second frontage on Queen Street), Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Hall and Prentice and built from 1925 to 1949. It was added to the Qu ...

in Brisbane and was a life member of the Queensland Royal Geographical Society. Fraser died in Brisbane in September 1918. His funeral proceeded from "Graceville", in Dean Street,

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills ...

to the

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest ceme ...

.Fraser Robert
— Brisbane City Council Grave Location Search. Retrieved 26 April 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Robert Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1843 births 1918 deaths Burials at Toowong Cemetery Mayors and Lord Mayors of Brisbane