Harry Walker (politician)


Harry Frederick Walker was an Australian company director and member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

Biography

Walker was born in Gympie, Queensland, to parents William Henry Walker and his wife Charlotte Caroline and was educated at One Mile State School, Monkland State School and the local Grammar School. He was a miner and engine-driver in 1890 and in 1897 was part of the Light Horse Jubilee Contingent in London. He fought in the Boer War and by 1906 was the chairman of the Murarrie Bacon Factory and a director of the Wide Bay Cooperative Dairy Co.
In 1903, Walker had acquired a farm at Coles Creek, Gympie and by 1920 he was a farmer at Tewantin.
On the 17 Feb 1894 he married Rosanna Martin and together had three sons and two daughters. He died in Brisbane in 1950 and his body was taken back to Gympie for a state funeral at St Peter's Church and burial at the Gympie Cemetery.

Political career

Walker was a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly for almost 40 years, most of them in opposition to successive Labor governments.
He represented two different seats, the first being Wide Bay from 1907 until 1912 and the second being Cooroora from its inception in 1912 until he retired from politics in 1947. He was Secretary for Agriculture and Stock in the Moore Ministry from 1929 until 1932.