Hal Colebatch

Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch (29 March 1872 – 12 February 1953) was a long-serving figure in Western Australian politics. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for nearly 20 years, the twelfth Premier of Western Australia for a month in 1919, agent-general in London for five years, and a senator for four years. He was known for supporting free trade, federalism and Western Australian secessionism, and for opposing communism, socialism and fascism. Born in England, his family migrated to South Australia when Colebatch was four years old. He left school aged 11 and worked for several newspapers in South Australia before moving to Broken Hill in New South Wales in 1888 to work as a reporter for the Silver Age. In 1894, he moved to the Western Australian Goldfields following the gold rush there, working for the Golden Age in Coolgardie and the Kalgoorlie Miner in Kalgoorlie. Two years later, he moved to Perth to join the Morning Herald, but after that newspaper collapsed, he moved to Northam where he started The Northam Advertiser. He also became friends with local bank manager James Mitchell and convinced Mitchell to run for state parliament. Colebatch was the mayor of Northam between 1909 and 1912.

Colebatch became a member of parliament himself when he was elected to the East Province of the Legislative Council in 1912. Upon Frank Wilson becoming premier in July 1916, Colebatch was appointed Minister for Education and Colonial Secretary. During a Spanish flu outbreak in South Australia and Victoria in early 1919, Colebatch was Acting Premier as Premier Henry Lefroy was travelling interstate. Colebatch chose to close the Western Australian border, leaving Lefroy and two ministers stuck outside the state. In April 1919, Lefroy resigned as premier and Colebatch took over, making him the only premier to come from the Legislative Council rather than the Legislative Assembly. The major event during his premiership was the 1919 Fremantle Wharf riot, in which two unions were fighting with each other. Colebatch resigned as premier one month after taking the job and was succeeded by Mitchell.

Colebatch served as a minister in the James ministry for four years, but resigned to become agent-general in 1923. He served most of his time as agent-general under a Labor government as Phillip Collier beat Mitchell in an election in March 1924. While agent-general, he toured Italy and met Benito Mussolini, which led him to form his anti-fascist political beliefs. After returning to Australia in 1927, he wrote a book at the request of Collier on the history of Western Australia to commemorate the state's centenary. He also sat on the Royal Commission on the Constitution. In 1928, he was elected to the Australian Senate, where he spent much of his time criticising protectionism, blaming it for worsening the Great Depression. He resigned in 1933 to take the position of agent-general again.

The Western Australian secession referendum occurred soon after Colebatch became agent-general, in which 66.23% of electors voted in favour of seceding. Colebatch was thus appointed to lead a delegation to the British Parliament to request secession. The delegation was unsuccessful, with a parliamentary select committee deciding that allowing Western Australia to secede would go against constitutional conventions. Colebatch continued on as agent-general until 1939, where he would make several trips to Germany to meet with anti-fascists as well as Nazi political figures. After returning to Australia, he was elected to the Legislative Council again, this time for the Metropolitan Province. He would serve there for eight years, and during this time, would frequently write in The Northam Advertiser about his view on World War II. He contested the 1948 election but failed to be elected. Colebatch died in 1953 and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.