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Senator for Queensland 1901-1906 |
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Anderson Dawson was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. Orphaned early in life, Dawson settled in Charters Towers and worked at various occupations including mining, journalism and bullock-driving. An active unionist, Dawson was the member for Charters Towers in the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1893-1901. He served as Premier and Chief Secretary of the short-lived minority Labor government from 1 to 7 December 1899, earning the title “first Labour premier in the world”.
In 1901 Dawson came second in the poll to represent Queensland in the Senate at the first federal election. He was the chairman of the first meeting of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, and was Minister for Defence in the 1904 Watson Labor ministry. His continued support for Liberal-Labor alliances put him out of favour with the party and led to his political demise. Dawson lost his seat at the 1906 federal election.
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