William Edward Marmion (22 October 1845 – 4 July 1896) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

from 1870 to 1890, and a member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

from 1890 to 1896.

Biography

Early life

William Edward Marmion was born on 22 October 1845 in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, Western Australia.

Career

Having worked from the age of sixteen, he started his own business at the age of twenty-one, W. E. Marmion & Co., which came to have interests in pastoral, pearling and maritime activities. He also formed mining companies after the gold was discovered in Yilgarn. When Western Australia introduced representative government in 1870, he ran unsuccessfully for the Legislative Council seat of Fremantle. He was instead made an unofficial member of the chamber, and became an official member of the Legislative Council when he won the seat of Fremantle in 1873. He transferred to the Legislative Assembly, when that body was created in 1890, winning the district of

. He was made commissioner of crown lands and minister for mines that same year by Premier

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister i ...

. According to R. T. Appleyard, " der Marmion the gold-mining industry became the economic vehicle which transformed a quiet backwater into a colony attracting enormous international interest. He had financial acumen and understood the infrastructure requirements needed to service rapidly increasing trade and population." In December 1874 he resigned the Lands and Mines Department portfolio, to concentrate on private business. In 1894, some newspaper editors accused him of a conflict of interest because of his dual roles as minister and leading business investor. He chose to resign his commission as minister. His action was met with surprise, with "some seeing it as consistent with his integrity".

Personal life and death

He married Anna Mary Gibbons in 1870, with whom he had three sons and six daughters. One of his daughters married

Arthur Abbott Arthur Valentine Rutherford Abbott (14 February 1892 – 10 October 1975) was an Australian lawyer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1939 to 1956. He was a minister in the government of Sir ...

, who was also a member of parliament. He died suddenly of liver disease on 4 July 1896. It was reported that more people attended his funeral than any previous funeral in Western Australia to that time, and that the streets of Perth were lined with thousands. A large Celtic cross was erected in Mayor's Park, Fremantle as a monument to him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marmion, William 1845 births 1896 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People from Fremantle Burials at Fremantle Cemetery 19th-century Australian politicians Mayors of Fremantle