Thomas Macdonald-Paterson

Who was Thomas Macdonald-Paterson?

Thomas Macdonald-Paterson was an Australian politician, a member of the Parliament of Queensland, and later, the Parliament of Australia.

Macdonald-Paterson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, he was educated there privately before migrating to Australia in 1861, where he became a butcher, speculator and lawyer. In 1878 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland as the member for Rockhampton; he transferred to Moreton in 1883 and to the Legislative Council in 1885, remaining there until 1887. He was a delegate to the Federation Convention of 1891, and returned to the Legislative Assembly in 1896 as the member for North Brisbane.

In 1901 he transferred to federal politics, winning the Australian House of Representatives seat of Brisbane. Although there was no protectionist organisation in Queensland, he joined the Protectionist Party when the parliament sat. In 1903, the National Liberal Union endorsed another candidate in Brisbane, and the division of the protectionist vote allowed a Labor candidate to defeat Macdonald-Paterson. He died in 1906.