Frederick Holder

(The Hon.) Sir Frederick William Holder KCMG (12 May 1850 - 23 July 1909) was the 19th Premier of South Australia and prominent member of the inaugural Australian commonwealth parliament.

Born in Happy Valley, South Australia — the son of James Morecott Holder and his wife, Martha Breakspear Roby, Holder was educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide before first becoming a teacher, schoolmaster, and Methodist preacher, and later the editor and proprietor of the Burra Record; he also wrote for the Adelaide "Register". Holder was elected to the South Australian Legislative Assembly in 1887 as the member for Burra, and soon gained a sound reputation in parliament. As a result, he served as Treasurer from 1889-90 in the J. A. Cockburn ministry, and Leader of the Opposition from 1890-92. He sat on many royal commissions during his parliamentary career in South Australia, and his reasonableness and sincerity made him a very valuable committee man. In June 1891 he carried a vote of want of confidence in the Playford ministry, and took office as premier and treasurer. He had only a small majority and it was a time of great financial difficulties due to a severe drought and Holder was forced out as Premier after just four months.

Holder then served as Commissioner of Public Works in Charles Kingston’s government from 1893-94, followed by a third stint as Treasurer from 1894 until his re-election as Premier and Treasurer in late 1899. As Premier, his most notable innovation was to introduce one standard time zone throughout South Australia, while he also played a prominent role in the movement towards a federal union, and, as such, was a member of the convention that framed the Commonwealth constitution in 1897-98.

As Premier, Holder considered himself to be the logical choice for a ministerial position in the new federal cabinet, and was offered a cabinet position by William Lyne after Lyne's invitation to form a cabinet by the Governor-General, Lord Houptoun. Holder initially accepted and was in Melbourne enroute to Sydney to officially accept his ministry when he was convinced by Alfred Deakin to refuse Lyne and instead support Edmund Barton's claim to become the inaugural Prime Minister of Australia. Believing that Barton would invite him to join the ministry, Holder was embarrassed and angry when Barton instead chose Kingston. Nonetheless, Holder resigned as Premier to successfully contest the 1901 federal election and entered the new federal parliament as one of the members for South Australia. Elected Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, Holder was re-elected to parliament in the 1903 and 1906 elections in the Division of Wakefield.

Holder married Julia Maria Stephens in 1877 and his wife would prove to be a great boon to his career, providing political advice and serving as South Australian President of the influential Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

Knighted in 1902, Holder served as Speaker until 1909, when during a 14-hour parliamentary session he exclaimed "dreadful, dreadful!" due to the raucous state of the house, collapsed in the Speaker’s Chair, and died from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was given a state funeral in Adelaide.

The Canberra suburb of Holder was named in his honour when gazetted in 1970.

References

* Harry, R. (1983) " [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090339b.htm Sir Frederick William Holder] ", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, MUP, Melbourne.
* Parliament of South Australia profile [http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/pp/html/holder.shtm] . Accessed 26 May 2005.