Sir John Quick | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Postmaster-General of Australia | |
| In office 2 June 1909 – 29 April 1910 | |
| Prime Minister | Alfred Deakin |
| Preceded by | Josiah Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Josiah Thomas |
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forBendigo | |
| In office 29 March 1901 – 31 May 1913 | |
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | John Arthur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1852-04-22)22 April 1852 |
| Died | 17 June 1932(1932-06-17) (aged 80) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Party | Protectionist (1901–06) Ind Protectionist (1906–09) Liberal (1909–13) |
| Spouse | Catherine Harris |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Sir John Quick (22 April 1852 – 17 June 1932) was an Australian lawyer, politician and judge. He played a prominent role in the movement forFederation and the drafting of theAustralian constitution, later writing several works onAustralian constitutional law. He began his political career in theVictorian Legislative Assembly (1880–1889) and later won election to theHouse of Representatives at thefirst federal election in 1901. He served asPostmaster-General in the thirdDeakin Government (1909–1910). He lost his seatin 1913 and ended his public service as deputy president of theCommonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration (1922–1930).
He was born in theparish ofTowednack, nearSt Ives inCornwall, England, the son of JohnSr and Mary Quick.[1] His life changed when he was 2 when his family migrated to Australia in 1854, where his father, a farmer, began prospecting at theBendigo goldfields but died a few months later of a fever.
Quick was educated at a state school in Bendigo and at the age of 10, he went to work in an ironfoundry at Long Gully. Quick later worked as an assistant at the BendigoEvening News and then as a junior reporter at the BendigoIndependent. There, he gained skills inshorthand writing and improved his general education.
In 1873, Quick moved toMelbourne, passing theUniversity of Melbourne in 1877 with aBachelor of Laws (LLB). Quick was called to thebar in June 1878, but instead continued as a journalist. Soon, he became the Parliament reporter atThe Age.
.jpg)
In 1880 Quick was elected the Member for Sandhurst (Bendigo) in theVictorian Legislative Assembly. He was a supporter of the radical liberal leaderSir Graham Berry. He resigned fromThe Age and returned to live in Bendigo, where he practised as a solicitor. In 1882, Quick received aDoctor of Laws degree (LL.D) after an examination.
On 24 December 1883, he married Catherine Harris (born 26 July 1861 atEaglehawk) the daughter of Joseph Harris and Annie Cahill. They married at St Peter's Episcopal Church, Eaglehawk.[1] The couple did not have any children together.
Quick was successful in parliament, and in 1886 was offered a ministerial portfolio by the thenPremier of VictoriaDuncan Gillies. However, after anelectoral redistribution, Quick lost his seat at the 1889 election.
Quick had become interested in theAustralian Federation movement while in the Victorian Parliament, and in the early 1890s, he successfully persuaded theAustralian Natives' Association to advocate Federation.
In August 1893, Quick attended a convention of Federationists, theCorowa Conference, and there devised a scheme for the direct election of national convention, tasked to draft a federal constitution which would then be put to voter by means of a referendum. The scheme elicited little interest, and was formally rejected by Edward Barton's Australasian Federal League.[2] But in November 1893 Quick drafted abill encapsulating his ideas, in 1894George Reid adopted them as Premier of News South Wales, and in 1897-8 the Australasian Federal Convention was constructed out of Quick's plan with very little modification.
In March 1897 Quick won the second of ten vacancies in Victoria's delegation to the Federal Australasian Convention, outpollingAlfred Deakin. In the Convention's proceedings, his voting pattern was characteristic of the radical strain within it, and more closely resembled that of Alfred Deakin's more than any other delegate.[3] Nevertheless, he was personally estranged from Deakin, to his later cost.
When Federation was inaugurated on 1 January 1901, he wasknighted[4] in recognition of his services to the federation movement. On the same day, Quick andRobert Garran publishedThe Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth,[5][6] which is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative works on theAustralian Constitution.
While Quick was not born in Australia as was required for membership of theAustralian Natives' Association (ANA) he nonetheless became a member of the Sandhurst (Bendigo) branch in 1882.[7] He as a member at the same time asMalachi Cahill. Cahill also became the chairman of his electoral committee.[8]
_(cropped).jpg)
At thefederal election of 1901, Quick was elected to theAustralian House of Representatives as Member for theDivision of Bendigo. He was initially considered a member of theProtectionist Party, but by 1903 the protectionistAge was no longer classifying him so. Partly on account of his shift to a less protectionist posture, George Reid made Quick chairman of a Royal Commission into tariffs. He held no cabinet position until 1909, when he was brieflyPostmaster-General in the third cabinet underAlfred Deakin.
Quick was defeated in the1913 election by theAustralian Labor Party candidate,John Arthur. That year, Quick became the founding President of the first Bendigo Cornish Association.[9]
In 1922, he was appointed deputy president of the Arbitration Court, which he held until his retirement on 25 March 1930.
Quick continued to be a prolific author. In 1904, along withLittleton Groom, Quick publishedThe Judicial Power of the Commonwealth, and in 1919 publishedThe Legislative Powers of the Commonwealth and the States of Australia. After retiring in 1930, he worked on a book, which he intended to callThe Book of Australian Authors, a bibliographical survey of various Australian authors, poets and playwrights. However, he died before he could complete the work.
Professor E Morris Miller continued the work, which was published in 1940 asAustralian Literature from its beginnings to 1935.[10]
La Trobe University Bendigo established the annual Sir John Quick Bendigo Lecture in 1994 in recognition of Quick's contribution to Federation and his election as Bendigo's first Federal Member of Parliament.[11] He also helped start the Australian federation.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Postmaster-General 1909–1910 | Succeeded by |
| Parliament of Australia | ||
| Preceded by New division | Member forDivision of Bendigo 1901–1913 | Succeeded by |
Fourth Deakin Cabinet (1909–10) | ||
|---|---|---|
Prime Minister:Alfred Deakin | ||
 | ||
