Bernard Corser


Bernard Henry Corser was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1912 to 1928 and a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1928 to 1954.

Early life

Corser was born at Maryborough in 1882 to Edward Corser and Mary Jane. He was educated at Maryborough Christian Brothers' School, Riverview College, Sydney, and returned to Queensland to study at Queensland Agricultural College, Gatton.

Politics

In 1912, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as the member for Burnett, joining the National Party on its formation in 1917. He held the seat until 1928.
By 1928, Corser had joined the Country Party and was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in a by-election for the seat of Wide Bay, which was caused by the death of his father, who was then the serving Nationalist MP.
In April 1939, the leader of the Country Party's senior Coalition partner the United Australia Party, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, died, and the leader of the Country Party, Earle Page, became caretaker Prime Minister. The likely replacement for Lyons was Robert Menzies, but Page attacked him. Together with Arthur Fadden, Thomas Collins and Oliver Badman, Corser dissociated himself from Page, and when the latter resigned as leader, the four were barred from the party meeting that elected Page supporter Archie Cameron as leader. As a result, Corser and his colleagues rejected Cameron's leadership.

Later life

Corser retired from politics in 1954 and became a grazier. He died in 1967 and was buried in Northern Suburbs Cemetery.