| Honorific-Prefix: | The Hon |
| Edward Hanson | |
| Office: | Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly |
| Term Start: | 8 August 1939 |
| Term End: | 31 July 1944 |
| Predecessor: | George Pollock |
| Successor: | Samuel Brassington |
| Constituency: | Buranda |
| Constituency Am1: | Buranda |
| Assembly1: | Queensland Legislative |
| Term Start1: | 16 August 1924 |
| Term End1: | 3 May 1947 |
| Predecessor1: | John Huxham |
| Successor1: | Richard Brown |
| Office2: | Member of the Queensland Legislative Council |
| Term Start2: | 19 February 1920 |
| Term End2: | 23 March 1922 |
| Birth Date: | 5 September 1878 |
| Birth Place: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Death Place: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Birthname: | Edward Joseph Hanson |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Party: | Labor |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth McKay (m.1903 d.1969) |
| Occupation: | Plumber, Trade union secretary |
Edward Joseph Hanson (5 September 1878 – 26 October 1950)[1] was a plumber, union organiser and politician in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council and the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Edward Joseph Hanson was born in Woolloongabba, Brisbane on 5 September 1878, the son of John Hanson and his wife Mary Ann (née Castree).[2]
He served in the Second Boer War 1899–1901.[3]
On 19 August, Edward, known as Ted, was married to Elizabeth McKay; they had eight children. He was also a founding member of the PGEUA (Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees Union of Australia) Qld branch in 1904. He was later its first full-time Secretary/Organiser (1915–1924). From 1916 to 1922 he was a member of the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board.[4]
Hanson was a member of the Queensland Legislative Council from 1920 to 1922.[5] After the abolition of the council, he represented the Queensland state electorate of Buranda from 1924 to 1947, and was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 8 August 1939 until 31 July 1944.[6] He was the first Speaker of the QLD Parliament to not wear a wig. His daughter Norma, related to her daughter, Caroline Mann-Smith, that Ted said that "I am not wearing a sheep skin on my head". (Norma was aged 19 in 1939). No doubt his reasons were not only this – they were likely to do with disagreement with what he saw as old and unnecessary traditions. (written by Caroline Mann-Smith, as quoted earlier) He was a supporter of the Buranda State Schools Committee and the president of the committee. He was a supporter of the Kent Street Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institution and the chairman of its committee.[7]
Hanson died on 26 October 1950. He was accorded a State funeral. His funeral cortege was led by the Queensland Mounted Police and was more than a mile long. It travelled along Victoria Bridge, Queen Street and Story Bridge and then to Mount Thompson Crematorium where he was cremated.[8]