Robert Herbert

Sir Robert George Wyndham Herbert, (12 June 1831 – 6 May 1905), was the first Premier of Queensland, Australia. At 28 years and 181 days of age, he was the youngest person ever to be elected premier of an Australian state. Early years Born in Brighton, England, on 12 June 1831, Herbert was the only son of the Hon. Algernon Herbert, a younger son of the first Earl of Carnarvon. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He won a Balliol scholarship in 1849 and, subsequently, the Hertford and Ireland scholarships. He took a first-class in Classical Moderations, won the Latin verse prize in 1852, and obtained second-class final honours in the classical school. He was elected Fellow of All Souls in 1854, and was Eldon law scholar. In 1855, he became private secretary to William Ewart Gladstone and was called to the bar of the Inner Temple in 1858. Queensland colony When Queensland was formed into a separate colony, Sir George Bowen was appointed the first governor. He arrived at Brisbane on 10 December 1859 and brought Herbert with him as his private secretary. On the day of the governor's arrival, Herbert was gazetted as colonial secretary, with Ratcliffe Pring as attorney-general. These with the governor formed an executive council to which additions were made afterwards. At the election held early in 1860, Herbert was returned unopposed for one of the Leichhardt seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, and became the first Premier of Queensland. He showed himself to be a good leader and held office from December 1859 to February 1866. During his time as Premier, four land acts were passed, and the education question was also the subject of early measures. The governor, in writing to the secretary of state, stated that the Queensland parliament "had passed a greater number of really useful measures than any other parliament in any of the Australian colonies". Certainly, the first Queensland government was in marked contrast to those of the other colonies, each of which averaged half a dozen ministries in the same period. However, Herbert fell into some disfavour when financial difficulties arose. He resigned in February 1866 and was succeeded by Arthur Macalister who served premier until 20 July 1866. Herbert was anxious to return to England on account of private business but, at the request of the governor, formed a ministry which lasted less than three weeks and was merged in the second Macalister ministry.