Josiah Symon
Encyclopedia
Hon Sir Josiah Henry Symon KCMG
(27 September 1846 – 29 March 1934), Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, was a member of the Australian Senate
in the First Australian Parliament, and an Attorney-General of Australia
.
, a town in the county of Caithness
in the Scottish Highlands
, in 1846. He was educated at Stirling High School
, where he was the dux
in 1862, before attending college in Edinburgh
. In 1866 he emigrated to South Australia and was employed as an articled clerk with his cousin, J D Sutherland, a solicitor in the city of Mount Gambier
. The leader of the South Australian Bar Association at the time (and a future Chief Justice of South Australia), Samuel Way
, noticed Symon's work and invited him to join his firm. Symon, having completed his studies, was called to the bar in 1871, and admitted to practice as a barrister
. In 1872, after the death of one of the partners at Way's firm, Symon became a partner alongside Way. In 1876, Way was appointed as a judge, and Symon bought out his part of the business.
In March 1881, Symon was made Attorney-General of South Australia in the Morgan government
, although at the time he had not been elected to the Parliament of South Australia
. He was elected as the member for Sturt in the South Australian House of Assembly
several weeks later. However, the Morgan government lost power on 24 June of that year, and Symon lost his position as Attorney-General. Later in 1881, Symon was made a Queen's Counsel
, and on 8 December of that year he married Mary Cowle, with whom he was to have five sons and seven daughters. In 1884, Symon was offered a judicial position, but he declined to accept it. He travelled to England in 1886, and was offered a nomination for a seat in the British House of Commons
, however he declined this opportunity also. In 1887, after returning to Australia, he lost his seat in the South Australian parliament.
Symon was a strong supporter of federation
, and in 1897 was elected as a South Australian delegate to the second Constitutional Convention
, where he was chairman of the judiciary committee. Symon was also president of the South Australian Federal League, and president of the Commonwealth League, two groups which promoted federation. In 1899, Symon was a member of the delegation of Australian politicians which visited England to ensure the passage of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 through the British Imperial Parliament.
In 1901, Symon was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
(KCMG). He stood for election to the Australian Senate
at the 1901 election for the Free Trade Party
, and was placed first overall by the voters of South Australia. He was made leader of the opposition
in the Senate, and was a leader within the Free Trade Party on tariff
policy. After being elected to the Parliament, he stood down from his position as a member of the council of the University of Adelaide
, a position he had held since 1897. At the 1903 election he again topped the poll for the Senate in South Australia. When the High Court of Australia
was created in late 1903, Symon was mentioned in the press as a possible judge of the court, although ultimately he was not appointed. From August 1904 to July 1905 he was the Attorney-General of Australia
in the Reid Ministry
.
Symon was renowned as a tough and uncompromising politician. He has been described as both an "eloquent and emotional speaker" and often "abrasive and argumentative." Late in 1904, Symon was involved in a dispute with the judges of the High Court. In the court's early years, its official home was a courtroom in Melbourne, although it often sat at the court in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst
. Justices Barton
and O'Connor
lived in Sydney, but Chief Justice of Australia
Sir Samuel Griffith
lived in Brisbane
, and took a two day train ride to attend each sitting in Melbourne. When Griffith asked for some bookshelves to be installed in the Darlinghurst courthouse, so that his law library might be moved from his offices in Brisbane, Symon criticised Griffith for holding any sittings outside Melbourne, and began intrusive inspections of the judges' travel expenses. Prime Minister George Reid
tried to intervene, and Griffith even took the extraordinary step of delaying scheduled sittings early in 1905. The stand-off was resolved when the Reid government left power, and the new Attorney-General (and future Chief Justice) Isaac Isaacs
permitted the judges to travel. Later, in 1930, when Symon was president of the Adelaide branch of the Royal Empire Society, he was an outspoken opponent of James Scullin
's nomination of Isaacs as Governor-General of Australia
.
In 1909, when the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party
merged to form the Commonwealth Liberal Party
, Symon was one of a small group of politicians who did not join, instead remaining in Parliament as an independent. Symon did not hold any other ministerial positions, and eventually left the Senate after losing his seat in the 1913 election
. He continued to practice as a barrister until his retirement in 1923 at the age of seventy-seven.
Symon was a lover of history and literature, and was nominated as a founding member of the Parliamentary Library Committee, which oversees the Parliament of Australia Parliamentary Library. Symon, along with Tasmania
n Senator John Keating
, who was also on the committee, suggested that historical documents relating to Australia but kept in the United Kingdom to be brought to Australia. In 1907 he visited the Public Record Office
in London while on a holiday, and campaigned for the logs of Captain James Cook
's ships HM Bark Endeavour
and HMS Resolution
to be brought to Australia, in the same way that the log of the Mayflower
had been taken to Boston in the United States. Though unsuccessful, Symon continued the campaign on his return to Australia, and in 1909 moved a resolution in the Senate to call for the logs to be brought to Australia. Although the logs were never given to Australia, the original copy of the Constitution of Australia
was brought to Australia in 1990, after campaigning by Prime Minister Bob Hawke
in a tradition which historians link to Symon.
Symon had a massive personal collection of approximately ten thousand books, which he ultimately bequeathed to the State Library of South Australia
. He had already donated his collection of law texts to the Law School at the University of Adelaide in 1924. Symon also wrote and published a number of books, including Shakespeare at Home, published in 1905, and Shakespeare the Englishman, published in 1929, both on the subject of William Shakespeare
. Some of Symon's lectures on Shakespeare were also published in pamphlet form.
Symon died in 1934, and was given a state funeral
. He was survived by his wife, his five sons and five of his seven daughters. In addition to bequeathing his library, Symon also left money for the establishment of scholarships at the University of Sydney
, Scotch College
in Adelaide
and Stirling High School, which he had attended in his youth.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(27 September 1846 – 29 March 1934), Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, was a member of the Australian 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,...
in the First Australian Parliament, and an Attorney-General of Australia
Attorney-General of Australia
The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
.
Biography
Symon was born in WickWick, Highland
Wick is an estuary town and a royal burgh in the north of the Highland council area of Scotland. Historically, it is one of two burghs within the county of Caithness, of which Wick was the county town. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay...
, a town in the county of Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, in 1846. He was educated at Stirling High School
Stirling High School
Stirling High School is a state high school for 11-18 year olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high schools in the Stirling district, and currently has approximately 972 pupils attending...
, where he was the dux
Dux
Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....
in 1862, before attending college in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. In 1866 he emigrated to South Australia and was employed as an articled clerk with his cousin, J D Sutherland, a solicitor in the city of Mount Gambier
Mount Gambier, South Australia
Mount Gambier is the largest regional city in South Australia located approximately 450 kilometres south of the capital Adelaide and just 17 kilometres from the Victorian border....
. The leader of the South Australian Bar Association at the time (and a future Chief Justice of South Australia), Samuel Way
Samuel Way
Sir Samuel James Way, 1st Baronet , English-Australian jurist, was a Chief Justice from 18 March 1876 until 8 January 1916 of the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South Australia.Way was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1836...
, noticed Symon's work and invited him to join his firm. Symon, having completed his studies, was called to the bar in 1871, and admitted to practice as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
. In 1872, after the death of one of the partners at Way's firm, Symon became a partner alongside Way. In 1876, Way was appointed as a judge, and Symon bought out his part of the business.
In March 1881, Symon was made Attorney-General of South Australia in the Morgan government
William Morgan (Australian politician)
Sir William Morgan KCMG was the Premier of South Australia between 1878 and 1881.-Early life:William Morgan was born in Bedfordshire, England, the son of George Morgan, a farmer, and his wife Sarah, née Horne. He emigrated to South Australia, arriving in Port Adelaide on 13 February 1849 in the...
, although at the time he had not been elected to the Parliament of South Australia
Parliament of South Australia
The Parliament of South Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of South Australia. It consists of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly. It follows a Westminster system of parliamentary government....
. He was elected as the member for Sturt in the South Australian House of Assembly
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
several weeks later. However, the Morgan government lost power on 24 June of that year, and Symon lost his position as Attorney-General. Later in 1881, Symon was made a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, and on 8 December of that year he married Mary Cowle, with whom he was to have five sons and seven daughters. In 1884, Symon was offered a judicial position, but he declined to accept it. He travelled to England in 1886, and was offered a nomination for a seat in the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, however he declined this opportunity also. In 1887, after returning to Australia, he lost his seat in the South Australian parliament.
Symon was a strong supporter of federation
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...
, and in 1897 was elected as a South Australian delegate to the second Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention (Australia)
In Australian history, the term Constitutional Convention refers to four distinct gatherings.-1891 convention:The 1891 Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney in March 1891 to consider a draft Constitution for the proposed federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. There...
, where he was chairman of the judiciary committee. Symon was also president of the South Australian Federal League, and president of the Commonwealth League, two groups which promoted federation. In 1899, Symon was a member of the delegation of Australian politicians which visited England to ensure the passage of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 through the British Imperial Parliament.
In 1901, Symon was created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(KCMG). He stood for election to the Australian 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,...
at the 1901 election for the Free Trade Party
Free Trade Party
The Free Trade Party which was officially known as the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association, also referred to as the Revenue Tariff Party in some states and renamed the Anti-Socialist Party in 1906, was an Australian political party, formally organised between 1889 and 1909...
, and was placed first overall by the voters of South Australia. He was made leader of the opposition
Opposition (Australia)
Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in Australia fulfils the same function as the official opposition in other Commonwealth of Nations monarchies. It is seen as the alternative government and the existing administration's main opponent at a general election...
in the Senate, and was a leader within the Free Trade Party on tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
policy. After being elected to the Parliament, he stood down from his position as a member of the council of the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
, a position he had held since 1897. At the 1903 election he again topped the poll for the Senate in South Australia. When the High Court of Australia
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...
was created in late 1903, Symon was mentioned in the press as a possible judge of the court, although ultimately he was not appointed. From August 1904 to July 1905 he was the Attorney-General of Australia
Attorney-General of Australia
The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
in the Reid Ministry
Reid Ministry
The Reid Ministry was the fourth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 18 August 1904 to 5 July 1905.Free Trade PartyMcLean, Turner, McCay and Drake were conservative Protectionist Party members. Their acceptance of office in Reid's ministry, although it had Alfred Deakin's tacit approval,...
.
Symon was renowned as a tough and uncompromising politician. He has been described as both an "eloquent and emotional speaker" and often "abrasive and argumentative." Late in 1904, Symon was involved in a dispute with the judges of the High Court. In the court's early years, its official home was a courtroom in Melbourne, although it often sat at the court in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst
Darlinghurst, New South Wales
Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney...
. Justices Barton
Edmund Barton
Sir Edmund Barton, GCMG, KC , Australian politician and judge, was the first Prime Minister of Australia and a founding justice of the High Court of Australia....
and O'Connor
Richard O'Connor (Australian politician)
Richard Edward O'Connor, QC , Australian politician and judge, was a member of the first federal ministry.-Biography:...
lived in Sydney, but Chief Justice of Australia
Chief Justice of Australia
The Chief Justice of Australia is the informal title for the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia...
Sir Samuel Griffith
Samuel Griffith
Sir Samuel Walker Griffith GCMG QC, was an Australian politician, Premier of Queensland, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and a principal author of the Constitution of Australia.-Early life:...
lived in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and took a two day train ride to attend each sitting in Melbourne. When Griffith asked for some bookshelves to be installed in the Darlinghurst courthouse, so that his law library might be moved from his offices in Brisbane, Symon criticised Griffith for holding any sittings outside Melbourne, and began intrusive inspections of the judges' travel expenses. Prime Minister George Reid
George Reid (Australian politician)
Sir George Houstoun Reid, GCB, GCMG, KC was an Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales and the fourth Prime Minister of Australia....
tried to intervene, and Griffith even took the extraordinary step of delaying scheduled sittings early in 1905. The stand-off was resolved when the Reid government left power, and the new Attorney-General (and future Chief Justice) Isaac Isaacs
Isaac Isaacs
Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs GCB GCMG KC was an Australian judge and politician, was the third Chief Justice of Australia, ninth Governor-General of Australia and the first born in Australia to occupy that post. He is the only person ever to have held both positions of Chief Justice of Australia and...
permitted the judges to travel. Later, in 1930, when Symon was president of the Adelaide branch of the Royal Empire Society, he was an outspoken opponent of James Scullin
James Scullin
James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...
's nomination of Isaacs as Governor-General of Australia
Governor-General of Australia
The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
.
In 1909, when the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party
Protectionist Party
The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...
merged to form the Commonwealth Liberal Party
Commonwealth Liberal Party
The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....
, Symon was one of a small group of politicians who did not join, instead remaining in Parliament as an independent. Symon did not hold any other ministerial positions, and eventually left the Senate after losing his seat in the 1913 election
Australian federal election, 1913
Federal elections were held in Australia on 31 May 1913. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Andrew Fisher was defeated by the opposition Commonwealth Liberal...
. He continued to practice as a barrister until his retirement in 1923 at the age of seventy-seven.
Symon was a lover of history and literature, and was nominated as a founding member of the Parliamentary Library Committee, which oversees the Parliament of Australia Parliamentary Library. Symon, along with Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n Senator John Keating
John Keating (Australian politician)
John Henry Keating was an Australian politician.Keating was born in Hobart and educated at Officer College, Hobart, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, Sydney and the University of Tasmania where he received a Bachelor of Laws in 1896...
, who was also on the committee, suggested that historical documents relating to Australia but kept in the United Kingdom to be brought to Australia. In 1907 he visited the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
in London while on a holiday, and campaigned for the logs of Captain James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
's ships HM Bark Endeavour
HM Bark Endeavour
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
and HMS Resolution
HMS Resolution (Cook)
HMS Resolution was a sloop of the Royal Navy, and the ship in which Captain James Cook made his second and third voyages of exploration in the Pacific...
to be brought to Australia, in the same way that the log of the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
had been taken to Boston in the United States. Though unsuccessful, Symon continued the campaign on his return to Australia, and in 1909 moved a resolution in the Senate to call for the logs to be brought to Australia. Although the logs were never given to Australia, the original copy of the Constitution of Australia
Constitution of Australia
The Constitution of Australia is the supreme law under which the Australian Commonwealth Government operates. It consists of several documents. The most important is the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia...
was brought to Australia in 1990, after campaigning by Prime Minister Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
in a tradition which historians link to Symon.
Symon had a massive personal collection of approximately ten thousand books, which he ultimately bequeathed to the State Library of South Australia
State Library of South Australia
The State Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research library in the state with a collection focus on South Australian information, and general reference material for...
. He had already donated his collection of law texts to the Law School at the University of Adelaide in 1924. Symon also wrote and published a number of books, including Shakespeare at Home, published in 1905, and Shakespeare the Englishman, published in 1929, both on the subject of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. Some of Symon's lectures on Shakespeare were also published in pamphlet form.
Symon died in 1934, and was given a state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
. He was survived by his wife, his five sons and five of his seven daughters. In addition to bequeathing his library, Symon also left money for the establishment of scholarships at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, Scotch College
Scotch College, Adelaide
Scotch College is an independent, Uniting Church, co-educational, day and boarding school, located on two adjacent campuses in Torrens Park and Mitcham, inner-southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia....
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and Stirling High School, which he had attended in his youth.