Philip Fysh Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Sir Philip Fysh
Honorific-Suffix:KCMG
Office:Postmaster-General of Australia
Primeminister:Edmund Barton
Alfred Deakin
Term Start:10 August 1903
Term End:27 April 1904
Predecessor:James Drake
Successor:Hugh Mahon
Office2:Premier of Tasmania
Governor2:Robert Hamilton
Term Start2:29 March 1887
Term End2:17 August 1892
Predecessor2:James Agnew
Successor2:Henry Dobson
Governor3:Frederick Weld
Term Start3:9 August 1877
Term End3:5 March 1878
Predecessor3:Thomas Reibey
Successor3:William Giblin
Birthname:Philip Oakley Fysh
Birth Date:1835 3, df=yes
Birth Place:Highbury, London, England
Death Place:Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia
Party:Protectionist (to 1909)
Fusion (from 1909)
Relations:William Willis (brother-in-law)
Occupation:Merchant

Sir Philip Oakley Fysh (1 March 1835 – 20 December 1919) was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania (1877–1878, 1887–1892) and became a leader of the colony's federation movement. He subsequently won election to the new federal House of Representatives (1901–1910) and was invited to represent Tasmania in the first federal ministry, serving as minister without portfolio (1901–1903) and Postmaster-General (1903–1904).

Early life

Fysh was born in Highbury, London, the son of John Fysh and his wife Charlotte. He was educated at the Denmark Hill school in Islington. At 13 years of age, Fysh commenced work in a London stockbroker's office, then he obtained a position in the office of a shipping firm, L. Stevenson & Sons, with Australian connections. Fysh migrated to Tasmania in 1859, becoming a leading merchant (establishing P. O. Fysh and Company), hop-grower and orchardist.

Colonial politics

A Protectionist, Fysh was a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council from 1866 to 1869, 1870 to 1873, 1884 to 1894, and of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1873 to 1878 (where he was treasurer in the Alfred Kennerley ministry until March 1875) and 1894 to 1899. Fysh became Premier and Chief Secretary of Tasmania in 1877, serving initially until 1878 and returning to the positions in 1887, serving to 1892. He was again elected to the assembly and was treasurer in Braddon's ministry from April 1894 to December 1898, when he was appointed Agent-General for Tasmania at London.

Federation movement

Fysh took an important part in the federal movement in Tasmania. He was a representative of his colony at the 1891 and 1897 conventions, and was a member of the Australian delegation that watched the passing of the federal bill through the Imperial Parliament.

Federal politics

Fysh was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 1901 as a member for Division of Tasmania and was minister without portfolio until 1903. After Tasmania was split into five electoral divisions in 1903, Fysh was elected for the Division of Denison, based on Hobart. He was Postmaster-General 1903–04. He retired in 1910.

Later life

Fysh was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in January 1896. He died in December 1919, aged 84. He was survived by five sons and four daughters. Fysh's wife, Esther Kentish Willis, was the daughter of William, a straw-hat manufacturer of Luton, Bedfordshire, who was also father of the judge and M.P. William Willis.[1]

Honours

The Canberra suburb of Fyshwick was named after him.

See also

References

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Notes and References

  1. Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1901, S. Low, Marston & Co., p. 376