James Tolmie (Australian politician)

James Tolmie was born on the ship Registan in Moreton Bay, just outside Brisbane, Queensland on 25 July 1862,[1] to Roderick Tolmie and his wife Helen (née Macrae), who were coming from Scotland to Queensland.[1] The eldest of a family of nine children, he was educated at the South State School, Toowoomba, and began as a pupil teacher in 1877. In 1894 he became editor, with a half-share interest, of the Darling Downs Gazette, a position he held until that paper's amalgamation with the Toowoomba Chronicle in 1922.[1] He was a notable athlete in his younger days, being particularly proficient as footballer and cricketer.[1]

He was elected to the Queensland Parliament for the double electorate of Drayton and Toowoomba in 1901[2] and with the exception of a break of 12 months in 1908, represented the Toowoomba area continuously until 1918.[2] He was Minister for Agriculture and Stock in the Denham Ministry from 1911 to 1912, and was Secretary for Public Lands from 1912 to 1915.[2] He was re-elected in 1915, when the Denham Government was defeated, and was Leader of the Opposition until he was forced to resign in 1918 due to ill health.[1] At the general election in 1918 he was defeated by F. T. Brennan, better known as Judge Brennan. From 1924 to 1927 he was an alderman of the City of Toowoomba.[1]

Before the Federation of Australia in 1901, Tolmie was a captain in the Fourth Queensland Regiment, and during World War I was major in command of a troop ship.[2] He was a loyal adherent of the Presbyterian Church and a Freemason.[3]

Mr. Tolmie, who did not marry, died in 1939 and was buried in Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery.[4] He was survived by five sisters, one of whom married Herbert Yeates MLA. Nephews included Dr. Derick Yeates FRCS, of Brisbane, Herbert Yeates, a barrister, of Brisbane, and Fergus Yeates, former Queensland Sheffield Shield slow bowler, and lecturer at Sydney University and James McRae Yeates for whom the James McRae Yeates prize for clinical surgery was named.

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1899–1902; 1902–1904; 1904–1907; 1909–1912; 1912–1915; 1915–1918