Sir James Mitchell GCMG (27 April 1866 – 26
July 1951) was the 13th Premier of Western
Australia
, serving on
two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia
for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western
Australia.
Mitchell,
the eldest of thirteen children, was educated at Bunbury, Western
Australia
and in 1885 joined the Western Australian
Bank. He later was a farmer.
In 1906, the state premier
Newton Moore
made Mitchell an honorary minister for agricultural expansion. In
1909 he was promoted, being given the portfolios of lands and
agriculture. He recruited
William
Lowrie as director of agriculture.
On 17 May 1919, premier
Hal Colebatch
resigned and Mitchell succeeded to the position. Mitchell won the
1921 election and remained premier until 1924. During this period
he garnered much publicity for his strong support for the
Soldier-Settlement Scheme in the south-west of Western Australia.
As a result of his enthusiastic promotion of this scheme (which
ultimately proved very costly in terms of money and resources) he
was dubbed "Moo-Cow" Mitchell by the local press. Nonetheless the
establishment of a
dairy industry in Western
Australia can be largely credited to him. He also proved adept at
dealing with the divisions between the
Nationalist Party and the
Country Party.
Mitchell's election to a second term in office coincided with the
onset of the
Great Depression. His
government was defeated at the 1933 state elections, in addition to
which he became the first Western Australian premier to lose both a
state election and his parliamentary seat (of Northam).
As a
result of financial difficulties during the Great Depression,
Tasmania
had
appointed a lieutenant governor in the 1930s. With the
approval of the major political parties, in July 1933 Mitchell was
appointed
lieutenant governor of
Western Australia.
This meant that, although he resided in
Government
House
, and was governor in all but name, he drew no
salary, thus making a reduced demand on the public purse at a time
when ordinary people were under severe restraint. He held
the position until he was finally appointed
governor in 1948. He retired
from the post in June 1951, and died one month later.
Mitchell was the first
Australian-born
governor of Western Australia, and he remains the only person to
have served as both Premier and Governor of the state.
The Mitchell
Freeway
was named in his honour, as was Sir James Mitchell
Park in Victoria Park
and Sir James Mitchell National Park.
References