Sir Hugh Muir Nelson, (31 December 1833 – 1 January 1906) was

Premier of Queensland The premier of Queensland is the head of government in the Australian state of Queensland. By convention the premier is the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority in the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The premier is ap ...

from 1893 to 1898.

Early life

Hugh Nelson was born at Kilmarnock,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, the son of

William Lambie Nelson The Reverend Doctor William Lambie Nelson (20 September 1808 – 13 June 1887)
— Edinburgh High School The Royal High School (RHS) of Edinburgh is a co-educational school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland. It serves 1,200 pupils drawn from four feeder primar ...

, and began a promising course under Sir William Hamilton at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

. This was cut short when he went with his father to Queensland in 1853 and settled at

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

. Hugh Nelson obtained a position in a mercantile house, and then took up a pastoral life about six miles out of Ipswich. He then went to the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was general ...

to manage a station, and in 1870 married Janet, daughter of Duncan McIntyre. Afterwards Nelson took up Loudon station in the Dalby district. His father, William Lambie Nelson, was elected to the first

Queensland parliament 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 st ...

in 1860 but was unseated because he was a minister of religion.

Politics

In 1880, when the divisional boards act came in, Hugh Nelson was elected a member of the Wambo board. His strong personality and cultivated intellect soon led to his being appointed chairman of the board. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland 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 Assembl ...

for Northern Downs on 7 September 1883, and after the 1887/8 redistribution of seats, he was member for Murilla (28 April 1888 to 13 April 1898). In June 1888 he became secretary for railways in the McIlwraith ministry and held the same position when Morehead succeeded McIlwraith. When

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

became premier, Nelson was elected leader of the opposition, but when Griffith resigned in March 1893 to become chief justice, Nelson formed a coalition with McIlwraith taking the portfolios of

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

and vice-president of the executive council. In October he became premier in a ministry which lasted four and a half years, for the last three years of which he was also chief secretary. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1896 and was appointed to the privy council at the time of his visit to England during the diamond jubilee celebrations in 1897. Nelson did most valuable work as treasurer during the depression which followed the financial crisis of 1893. In April 1898 when the Byrnes ministry came in, Nelson became president of the

Queensland Legislative Council The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which to ...

, and in 1903 lieutenant-governor, for both of which positions his fine appearance, tact and grace of manner eminently fitted him. Nelson had an intimate knowledge of men, and was an excellent parliamentarian with a good grasp of constitutional matters and a keen understanding of financial questions. His genial nature made him personally popular and though scarcely an orator, his practical common sense always made him worthy of attention. He was opposed both to the separation movement in Queensland and to federation. He showed himself to be a strong man during the shearers' strike of 1894, but his best work was done as treasurer when he led the colony out of a state of financial chaos.

Later life

Nelson died at

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 ...

on 1 January 1906, survived by Lady Nelson, two sons and three daughters. He was accorded a State funeral, 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 ...

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Hugh 1833 births 1906 deaths Premiers of Queensland Australian Presbyterians Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia People from Kilmarnock People from Ipswich, Queensland Presidents of the Queensland Legislative Council Treasurers of Queensland Burials in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery 19th-century Australian politicians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh