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was born in the Allen River
district of New South Wales, on 28 October 1868. His father, Dugald
Gillies, was a farmer, and both parents came from Scotland. Gillies was
educated at local schools and in 1882 went with his parents to the
Richmond River country. There he took up farming including sugar-cane
growing, and began to be interested in public affairs. He was an active
member of the anti-alien league, and afterwards became president of the
New South Wales sugar growers defence league. At the federal election of
1910 he unsuccessfully stood as a Labour candidate for the Richmond seat,
and was again defeated when he stood for the New South Wales legislative
assembly in the same district. In 1911 he took up land in Queensland and
in 1912 won the Eacham seat for Labour in the Queensland parliament. He
held this seat until his retirement from politics. He was
assistant-minister for justice in the Ryan (q.v.) ministry from April 1918
to September 1919 and for a few weeks until 22 October, was secretary for
agriculture and stock. He held the last position in the Theodore ministry
from October 1919, and his practical experience as a farmer was found to
be of great use. Many amendments were made in existing legislation
relating to agriculture and no fewer than 14 new measures were passed.
This period was marked by the establishment of the cotton industry and the
stabilization of the sugar and farming industries. On the resignation of
Theodore, Gillies became premier on 26 February 1925, taking the positions
of chief secretary and treasurer, and vice-president of the executive
council. He was premier during a period of great labour unrest with
constantly occurring strikes. Himself a man of moderate views he found the
more extreme section of the party very active, and he was beset with
anxieties. He compromised as much as possible, but on 27 October 1925 was
glad to resign and become a member of the newly-established board of trade
and arbitration. He gave much study to the problems to be dealt with and
carried out his work with conspicuous fairness. He, however, felt the
strain very much and died suddenly on 9 February 1928. He married in 1900
Margaret Smith who survived him with a son and a daughter.
Gillies was a good type of
politician, honest and hardworking, who did sound work for his party and
his country. He did not, however, have sufficient personality to be a good
leader when he found himself in difficult circumstances. |
