William Noah Hedges (16 July 1856 – 21 November 1935) was an Australian politician. Born in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

in England, he received a primary education before his migration to Australia in 1878, where he became a public works contractor. He moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1893, where he became a company director. In 1906, he was elected to the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

as the member for

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 ...

, representing the

Western Australian Party The Western Australian Party (WAP) was a short-lived Australian political party that operated in 1906. It was intended as a liberal party to protect the rights of Western Australians and to oppose the increasingly successful Labor Party, and d ...

as its only representative (

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 ...

was nominally the leader but in practice did not involve himself in the party). Hedges sat effectively as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

until 1909, when he joined the newly formed

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...

. He held the seat until his defeat in 1913. In 1929, he was appointed President of the

Western Australian Employers Federation The Western Australian Employers' Federation was an employers' organisation in Western Australia between 1913 and 1975. It was a member of the Employers' Federation of Australia. As an employers advocacy group, the organisation was involved in ...

; he remained in this position until his death in 1935. He built Highland Valley Homestead in Burekup as a private residence.

References

Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fremantle Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1856 births 1935 deaths Western Australian Party members of the Parliament of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians British emigrants to colonial Australia {{Australia-politician-stub