James Braidwood Edwards (3 February 1879 – 9 July 1952) was a 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 ...

Biography

Edwards was born at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the son of David Edwards and his wife Jane Drew (née Henderson). He was educated in

Warracknabeal Warracknabeal ( ) is a wheatbelt town in the Australian state of Victoria. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km north-west of Melbourne, it is the business and services centre of the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee d ...

and arrived in Queensland in 1898 where he took up farming on 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 generall ...

. He moved to the

Kingaroy Kingaroy is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways, north-west of the state capital Brisbane and south west of Gympie. As a ...

district in 1908 where he remained for the rest of his life and took up dairy farming. In 1903 he married Mary Emma Adler (died 1967)Family history research
— Queensland Government births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Retrieved 10 June 2016. and together had five sons and four daughters. He died in July 1952 and his funeral moved from the Kingaroy Church of England to the Taabinga Cemetery.

Public career

Edwards won the seat of

Nanango Nanango is a rural town and locality in the South Burnett Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nanango had a population of 3,599 people. Geography Nanango is situated north-west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junc ...

at the

1920 Queensland state election Elections were held in the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland on 9 October 1920 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Legislative Assembly. The Australian Labor Party (Queensl ...

, beating fellow Country Party member Robert Hodge, who was also the sitting member for the seat. He went on to represent the electorate until the

1947 Queensland state election Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 3 May 1947 to elect the 62 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election was the first that the Labor government had contested under Premier Ned Hanlon, who had been in ...

when he retired from politics. His position was taken over by

Joh Bjelke-Petersen Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen (13 January 191123 April 2005), known as Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was a conservative Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during ...

, who went on to be the

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 ...

for a record term.Bjelke-Petersen, Sir Johannes
—

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 s ...

. Retrieved 10 June 2016. Although he spent over 26 years in parliament, he was only on the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

side for three years. During those three years he was the Chairman of the Public Works Committee. From 1936 until his retirement in 1947 Edwards was the Opposition Whip. He was also a member of the

Kingaroy Shire Council The Shire of Kingaroy was a local government area in the South Burnett region of Queensland, Australia, about northwest of the capital, Brisbane. The shire covered an area of , and existed as a local government entity from 1912 until 2008, when ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, James Braidwood Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1879 births 1952 deaths National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland People from Hamilton, Victoria