John Gratton Wilson (18 August 1863 – 20 August 1948) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Villiers and Heytesbury from 1902 to 1903 and a

Free Trade Party The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states, was an Australian political party, formally organised in 1887 in New South Wales, ...

member of the Australian House of Representatives for Corangamite from 1903 to 1910. Gratton Wilson was born in Melbourne and educated at the Percy Watkins School in West Melbourne and Wesley College. He studied medicine at the University of London and practised in Somerset, England until 1896, when he returned to Australia, becoming a doctor and farmer at "Farnham Park" near Warrnambool. He was the Warrnambool president of the

Australian Natives Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

, honorary secretary of the Warrnambool Hospital and secretary of a local Patriotic League. In 1902, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Villiers and Heytesbury on a platform of "assisting in every practicable way the interests of the dairyman, the agriculturalist and the pastoralist" alongside support for the economic reforms of the

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government. However, he resigned his state seat, which was about to be abolished in a redistribution, in November 1903 and successfully transferred to federal politics, winning the Australian House of Representatives seat of Corangamite as a member of the

. In federal parliament, Gratton Wilson described himself as a protectionist but opposed the

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party or Liberal Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. The party advocated protective tariffs, arguing it would allow Australi ...

due to his hostility towards their more positive relationship with the Labor Party. He thus went into Opposition to

Alfred Deakin Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...

, but voted against free trade policies. His maiden speech, in March 1904, opposed proposals to increase House sitting days as it would be "too great a tax on businessmen's time". He was re-elected in 1906 but was defeated in 1910 by future Labor Prime Minister James Scullin. He attributed his defeat to "apathy and treachery" by anti-Labor supporters who thought he would win and did not assist him in the face of a strong Labor campaign and "misrepresentations and misunderstandings". He served in World War I from 1916 to 1919 as a member of the Army Medical Corps, after which he returned to his Warrnambool medical practice and farm. He retired in 1920 and later moved to "Iluka" at

Moonlight Head Moonlight Head is a locality located on the Great Ocean Road in southwest of Victoria on the Southern Ocean. It is believed to be the headland seen by Matthew Flinders from the '' Investigator'' during a break in showery weather, on the night o ...

(later Yuulong) near Cape Otway. His Yuulong home was destroyed in bushfires in 1934, though he was still residing in the area in 1939 when he made a donation of 375 ferns to the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens. He died at Colac, Victoria in 1948, aged 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Gratton Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Corangamite Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Victoria (Australia) state politicians 1863 births 1948 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians