- John Quick (politician)
Sir John Quick (
14 April 1852 –17 June 1932 ),Australia npolitician andauthor , was the federalMember of Parliament for Bendigo from 1901 to 1913 and a leadingdelegate to the constitutional conventions of the 1890s.Early life
Quick was born in Trevassa,
Cornwall ,England , in 1852, the son of John Sr and Mary Quick. The family migrated to Australia in 1854, where John Sr, afarmer , began prospecting at the Bendigo goldfields. However, he died a few months later.Quick was educated at a state school in Bendigo and at the age of 10 went to work in an iron
foundry at Long Gully. Quick later worked as an assistant at the Bendigo "Evening News", and then as a junior reporter at the Bendigo "Independent". Here he gained skills inshorthand writing, and improved his general education.In 1873, Quick moved to
Melbourne and passed thematriculation examination at theUniversity of Melbourne . There he studied law, and with the help of scholarships, completed his course in 1877, graduating with aBachelor of Laws (LL.B). Quick was called to the bar in June 1878, but instead continued as a journalist. Soon later, he became the leading parliamentary reporter at "The Age "newspaper .Political career
Victorian state politics
In 1880 Quick stood for election to the
Parliament of Victoria , and was elected the Member for Bendigo in the Legislative Assembly. He was a supporter of the liberal leader Sir Graham Berry. At this time, he resigned from "The Age" and returned to live in Bendigo, where he practiced as asolicitor .In 1882, Quick received a
Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D) after sitting an examination. In 1883, he married Catherine Harris. The couple did not have any children together.Quick was successful in parliament, and in 1886 was offered a ministerial portfolio by the then
Premier of Victoria Duncan Gillies . However, after an electoral redistribution, Quick lost his seat at the 1889 election.Federation movement
Quick had become interested in the Australian Federation movement while in the Victorian Parliament, and in the early 1890s successfully persuaded the
Australian Natives Association to advocate federation.In August 1893, Quick attended the first informal Constitutional Convention at
Corowa , and proposed that a formal national convention should be established, with each of the six Australian colonies to be represented by ten elected delegates. The proposal was agreed on, and in November 1893 Quick drafted a bill which formed the basis of the deliberations at the formal convention held inAdelaide in 1897. Quick was elected to the Adelaide convention as second on the list of ten Victorian representatives.When Federation was inaugurated on
1 January 1901 , Quick wasknight ed in recognition of his services to the federation movement. On the same day, Quick andRobert Garran published "The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth", which is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative works on theAustralian Constitution . [The book has since been republished: theISBN of the current edition is ISBN 0-9596568-0-4.]Federal politics
At the federal election of 1901, Quick was elected to the
Australian House of Representatives as Member for theDivision of Bendigo . He was considered a member of theProtectionist Party . He was chairman of the first federaltariff commission, and was Postmaster-General in the third cabinet underAlfred Deakin in 1909.Quick was defeated in the 1913 election by the
Australian Labor Party candidate, John Arthur. In 1922, he was appointed deputy president of the federal Arbitration Court, a position he held until his retirement on25 March 1930 .Quick continued to be a prolific author. In 1904, along with
Littleton Groom , Quick published "The Judicial Power of the Commonwealth", and in 1919 published "The Legislative Powers of the Commonwealth and the States of Australia". After retiring in 1930, he worked on a book which he intended to call "The Book of Australian Authors", a bibliographical survey of various Australian authors,poet s andplaywright s. However, he died before he could complete the work. Professor E Morris Miller continued his work, and the book was published in 1940 as "Australian Literature from its beginnings to 1935". [The book has since been republished: theISBN of the current edition is ISBN 0-424-06920-2 (in two volumes).]Notes
References
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=John|Last=Quick|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogP-Q.html#quick1
*National Library of Australia – [http://www.nla.gov.au/guides/federation/people/quick.html Federation Gateway: Sir John Quick]
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