The Brisbane
Courier supported Douglas’s candidature, reporting, even before parliament
had been adjourned, a rumour that Douglas intended to contest Eastern Downs,
held by John McLean, the new colonial treasurer. The paper believed Douglas would perform
strongly there, for he was well known in the district and when in opposition
had assisted its constituents with various land matters.[2] However, when Douglas did stand for election,
it was in the electorate of Western Downs rather than Eastern Downs.[3] The incumbent, John Watts, had six days
earlier been appointed secretary for lands and public works in the Herbert
ministry. Judging by subsequent events, it appears that Macalister had
convinced Douglas to stand for this particular seat.[4]
In his election manifesto Douglas claimed that Watts, a
“large pastoral landowner on the Darling Downs,”[5]
was the wrong man for the position, while himself affirming that the Darling
Downs should be available to “farmers or other resident and improving tenants”
rather than squatters.[6] In persuading Douglas to contest this seat,
Macalister sought to unseat a squatter, who, in the previous session of
parliament, had helped prevent his government from implementing its land reform
measures.[7] Unfortunately for Douglas the electorate was
one dominated by squatters.[8]
His address, which concluded that he wanted to oppose
Watts on political rather than personal grounds,[9]
read as if his heart was not in it. Why
then was he contesting the seat? The
Macalister ministry, by resigning over the financial crisis the previous week,
had forced the members of the incoming Herbert ministry to recontest their
seats. [10] Herbert was departing for England in August
and, if his ministers could be defeated at the polls then Bowen would have to
request Macalister to form government.
Douglas was the trump card for the Macalister team. Being in the legislative council, he was the only
member of the previous ministry able to contest one of these seats and was well
known and respected in the colony.[11] Watts, however, was derided as being “imbued
with deep-seated party views and feelings, and adverse to the growth of any new
interest,” a man afraid to meet his constituents.[12]
Douglas knew that he was contesting the wrong seat,
because he would have been almost certain of victory in Eastern Downs due to
the large number of settlers at Allora and Warwick, as well as the manifest
unpopularity of the incumbent, John McLean.[13] But with the seat of Western Downs unwinnable,
Douglas did not even visit the electorate.
He was never comfortable with this type of ‘wheeling and dealing,’ a
situation in which the spoils of office were carved up in back rooms behind
closed door. Subsequent events
demonstrated the truth of this observation, with Douglas - an active, if
somewhat unwilling, participant - shortly afterwards receiving a ministerial
office.
The elections were staggered, with the first contest
taking place at Ipswich. There a member
of the new ministry, Ratcliffe Pring, was defeated, resulting in the
resignation of Herbert and his ministry, and Macalister was then requested by
Bowen to form a government.[14] In so doing, Macalister amply displayed why
he was known by the sobriquet ‘slippery Mac,’[15]
for it contained several surprises, including the inclusion of two members of
the former Herbert ministry - John Watts, and John McLean.[16] Douglas was not included. Macalister had included Watts and McLean in
order to bolster his political fortunes, in the same manner that he had brought
Mackenzie and Douglas into his previous ministry. While the Queenslander
believed that their inclusion was the price Herbert had demanded of Macalister
for his resignation, it was concerned that their inclusion would lead to “doubt
and distrust.”[17]
This development left Douglas in an intolerable position,
because he was a member of the previous Macalister ministry, now contesting a
seat against a sitting member of Macalister’s new ministry! A deeply disappointed Douglas withdrew his
candidature the following day.[18] Even worse, he was now no longer a member of
parliament, having resigned from the legislative council to contest the seat.[19] This episode raises many questions. Why was he omitted from the ministry? Was he ‘double-crossed’ by Macalister? Why did he contest the unwinnable seat of
Western Downs when he could have easily defeated McLean in Eastern Downs?
Macalister persuaded Douglas to challenge Watts because
no one else possessed the necessary credentials and popularity on the Darling
Downs to defeat him. However, Herbert
had insisted that Macalister include both McLean and Watts in the ministry and
Douglas therefore lost both his seat in the legislative council and his
position in the ministry.[20] Douglas then withdrew from contesting the
seat of Western Downs on the understanding that he would be included in the
ministry at the earliest possible opportunity.[21] He had plenty to keep him busy while he
waited for the expected vacancy for his community duties continued to be
extensive, and he was actively involved with a number of Brisbane
organisations.[22]
[1] Douglas ’s manifesto, appearing in
the Brisbane Courier on 26
July 1866 , was the first the paper published, appearing even before
the gazettal of a notice of election for his seat! (John Douglas. “To the Electors of the Western
Downs .” Brisbane Courier, 26
July 1866 , p. 1; Brisbane 26 July 1866 , p 2)
[2] Brisbane 24
July 1866 , p. 2
[3] John Douglas. “To the
Electors of the Western Downs .” Brisbane Courier,
26 July 1866 , p.
1; Brisbane 26 July 1866 , p 2. In order to contest the seat, Douglas resigned his position in the legislative council,
doing this on 25 July. (Queensland
Government Gazette, vol 7 no 75, 28 July 1866, p. 673)
[4] Brisbane 26
July 1866 , p 2
[5] John Douglas. “To the
Electors of the Western Downs .” Brisbane 26 July 1866 , p. 1
[6] Ibid.
[7] Wilson
[8] “Toowoomba.” Brisbane 1 August 1866 , p. 3
[9] John Douglas. “To the
Electors of the Western Downs .” Brisbane 26 July 1866 , p. 1
[10] The Herbert
Ministry
[11] Brisbane 22
December 1866 , p. 4
[12] Brisbane 24
July 1866 , p. 2
[13] “Toowoomba.” Brisbane 1 August 1866 , p. 3. The paper hoped that “Douglas will permit
himself to be put in nomination for the Eastern Downs ,
where we are confident his success is a certainty.”
[14] Queenslander, 11 August 1866 , p. 9; Wilson (1978), pp. 50-51
[15] See Wilson
[16] Queenslander, 11 August 1866 , p. 9
[17] Ibid.
[18] Brisbane 8
August 1866 , p. 3; Queenslander,
11 August 1866 ,
p. 5; John Douglas. “Address in Reply to
Opening Speech.” Queensland Parliamentary Debates, vol 4, 1867, p. 49
[19] John Douglas. “Western Downs Election.”
Darling Downs
Gazette, 14 August 1866 ,
p. 2. Always the gentleman, Douglas was
characteristically sanguine about the situation, remarking in a published
letter to Watt’s nominator, James Taylor, that he was “most sincerely glad that
a compromise has been affected.”
[20] Nevertheless, Macalister and Douglas remained political allies and
shortly afterwards Douglas accompanied him to New South Wales Brisbane 22 August 1866 , p. 2; Paul Wilson. The
Political Career of the Honourable Arthur Macalister, C.M.G. BA Hons thesis, University of Queensland
[21] Queenslander, 17 November 1866 , p.
4. McLean remarked soon after the
reconvening of parliament that because he lived in Sydney
[22] These included the presidency of the Milton Mutual Improvement
Association, vice-president of the Brisbane Philharmonic Society and the
Caledonian Association of Queensland, a committee member of the Brisbane
Diocesan Church Society, the Brisbane Hospital and Benevolent Asylum and the Brisbane Lying-in Hospital Douglas was
also actively involved with the Freemasons, being on the executive of the
Provincial Grand Masonic Lodge, Brisbane and the Scotch Constitution. Lodge St Andrew’s no. 435, Brisbane
