Frederick Charles Burleigh Vosper (23 March 1869–6 January 1901) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and proprietor, and politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He was well known for his ardent views and support of Australian republicanism, federalism

Federalism

Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...

 and trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

ism.

Early life

The son of civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

 Charles Watson Vosper, Frederic Vosper was born in St.Dominic, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and educated at nearby Truro

Truro

Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...

. He immigrated to Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 at the age of 15. Few other details of his early life are available, but in 1885 he was at Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 serving with the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 on the training ship Lion.

Journalistic career

Early in 1886 Vosper immigrated to Australia, arriving in Maryborough

Maryborough, Queensland

Maryborough is a city located on the Mary River in South East Queensland, Australia, approximately north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city is serviced by the Bruce Highway, and has a population of approximately 22,000 . It is closely tied to its neighbour city Hervey Bay which is...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 in the middle of the year. He worked as a timber miller, drover and miner, before taking a job as a journalist for the Eidsvold Reporter. He later became mining correspondent for Maryborough Chronicle and Colonist, before becoming sub-editor for the Northern Miner in Charters Towers

Charters Towers, Queensland

Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold...

. According to Jaggard (1979), Vosper was heavily influenced by the political opinions and journalistic style of the Northern Miners owner and editor, Thadeus O'Kane. When O'Kane died in May 1890, Vosper became editor of the Australian Republican, the organ of the Australian Republican Association.

Vosper rapidly developed a reputation as a political firebrand and industrial agitator with a talent for journalism and public speaking. During the 1891 Australian shearers' strike

1891 Australian shearers' strike

350px|thumb|Shearers' strike camp, Hughenden, central Queensland, 1891.The 1891 shearers' strike is one of Australia's earliest and most important industrial disputes. Working conditions for sheep shearers in 19th century Australia weren't good. In 1891 wool was one of Australia's largest industries...

 he wrote an editorial entitled Bread or Blood in which he encouraged the strikers to resort to violence if peaceful means provided unsuccessful: "If your oppressors will not listen to reason let them feel cold lead and steel; as they have starved you, so do you shoot them." As a result Vosper was charged with two counts of seditious libel

Seditious libel

Seditious libel was a criminal offence under English common law. Sedition is the offence of speaking seditious words with seditious intent: if the statement is in writing or some other permanent form it is seditious libel...

, but acquitted. The following year he was imprisoned for three months for inciting a riot during a miners' strike. At this time Vosper ceased cutting his hair. According to Victor Courtney

Victor Courtney

Victor Desmond Courtney was a Western Australian journalist. From small beginnings in a partnership in a weekly sporting newspaper, Courtney ended up as the managing director of The Sunday Times and owner of a network of thirty regional newspapers.-Works:* Random Rhymes, Perth, the author.* ...

, "the legend is that when in gaol he received the usual prison crop and he vowed that he would never have his hair cut again." (Courtney 1956)

A passionate supporter of trade unionism, Vosper became closely associated with the Labour movement, but was never a member of the Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 because he refused to take their pledge. On those grounds the Labor Party refused him endorsement for the Queensland elections of 1893, and Vosper then left the colony.

After working on Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 and Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 newspapers for a short time, Vosper immigrated to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 in 1892, just as the gold rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

es were beginning. In 1893 he arrived in Cue

Cue, Western Australia

- Further reading:* 'Along the Cue railway. Inspection of line with suggested improvements, visit to Georgina Siding'. West Australian, 11 June 1898, p. 5-External links:* *...

 at the invitation of Alexander Livingstone, editor of the Murchison Miner. He briefly worked for the Murchison Miner as well as several other newspapers including Miner's Right, before establishing himself as editor of the Coolgardie Miner. He used the paper to espouse his views on republicanism, Asian immigration and workers' rights. He also argued for electoral redistribution

Redistricting

Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...

 to give the goldfields a fairer representation in the Western Australian parliament

Parliament of Western Australia

The Parliament of Western Australia consists of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly . The Parliament sits at Parliament House in Harvest Terrace, Perth....

. His successor as editor to the Coolgardie Miner was fellow Cornish Australian

Cornish Australian

Cornish Australians are citizens of Australia whose ancestry originates in Cornwall, United Kingdom, one of the six Celtic Nations. They form part of the worldwide Cornish diaspora which also includes large numbers of people in the US, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and many Latin...

 Henry Kneebone

Henry Kneebone

Henry "Harry" Kneebone was an Australian politician. In 1931, he was appointed to the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for South Australia, filling the casual vacancy caused by the death of Country Party Senator John Chapman. He was defeated in the election of later that year...

. During 1895 Vosper edited the Geraldton Express for three months while its regular editor John Drew defended a libel action, and over shortly afterwards served briefly as correspondent for the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based West Australian Review.

Political career

Between 1894 and 1897, Vosper was the organiser and travelling spokesman for a number of political movements. In Coolgardie

Coolgardie, Western Australia

Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....

 in December 1894, he established the Anti-Asiatic League, which aimed to maintain living standards by excluding "cheap coloured labour". In November 1895 he was spokesman for the National League, which agitated for increased political representation for the goldfields. He became a leading figure in the Gold Diggers' Union and the Goldfields Protection and Advancement League, and was founder and spokesperson for the Electoral Registration League, which sought to help remotely located miners to register to vote.

On 4 May 1897, Vosper was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly

Western Australian Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....

 in the seat of North-East Coolgardie as an independent. At the time he was well known throughout the Eastern Goldfields; according to Jaggard (1979), he was the most widely known public figure apart from the premier

Premier of Western Australia

The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...

, John Forrest

John Forrest

Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....

.

In order to take his seat in parliament

Parliament of Western Australia

The Parliament of Western Australia consists of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly . The Parliament sits at Parliament House in Harvest Terrace, Perth....

, Vosper moved to Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. On 11 November 1897 he married a widow named Venetia Ann Nicholson, and shortly afterwards he used her capital to establish The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times (Western Australia)

The Sunday Times, owned by News Limited, is a tabloid Sunday newspaper printed in Perth and distributed throughout Western Australia.-History:...

. He became its editor after his partner Edward Ellis died in 1898.

Vosper joined the Parliamentary Goldfields Party almost immediately after his election, agreeing to work for payment of members, restriction of Asian immigration, better electoral representation for the goldfields, reductions in tariffs and amendments of mining laws. In addition to working for this goals, Vosper also pushed for the construction of a railway between Esperance

Esperance, Western Australia

Esperance is a large town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The shire of Esperance is home to 9,536 people as of the 2006 census, its major industries are tourism, agriculture,...

 and Coolgardie, votes for women, and compulsory arbitration

Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...

. From May 1898, Vosper pushed for an inquiry into mental health policy and the treatment of female patients at the Fremantle Asylum. He became chairman of the select committee that was established in October 1900, whose findings resulting in the implementation of widespread reforms. In 1900 he was also instrumental in winning the insertion of a minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

 clause into government contracts.

Vosper was a member of the 1899 select committee appointed to examine the terms under which Western Australia was invited to participate in the Federation of Australia

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...

. Although his sympathies were unquestionably in favour of federation, he became convinced of a number of flaws in the terms, and campaigned for a 'No' vote. He argued that Western Australia should federate, but only after securing a guarantee that an intercontinental railway would be build at the cost of transport infrastructure. He also objected to aspects of the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

's powers, and to the creation of a high court

High Court of Australia

The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...

.

Vosper is also implicated in what was in effect personal attacks on C.Y. O'Connor in the last years of his life, with criticisms of O'Connor and the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

Goldfields Water Supply Scheme

The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project which delivers potable water to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie...

. A subsequent government enquiry found no wrong doing by O'Connor, but rather an employee.

Death

In 1900, Vosper's seat was abolished in a redistribution

Redistricting

Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...

, so he decided that he would stand for a seat in the Senate instead. He began an election campaign, but early in January 1901 he became acutely ill with appendicitis

Appendicitis

Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...

. He died in Perth on 6 January, just five days after the 1 January 1901 Proclamation of the Commonwealth of Australia in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, and was buried in the Roman Catholic section of Perth's Karrakatta Cemetery

Karrakatta Cemetery

Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, with Robert Creighton. Currently managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each...

. He was thirty one years old. According to Victor Courtney, "undoubtedly leadership of the Labour Party and Premiership of the country would have come his way in the course of political events had he lived."