Page:History of West Australia.djvu/615

 Throughout his career Mr. Marmion has given evidences of sharpness of intellect and ability to grasp essentials in political problems which have marked him among his brethren. He has grown with the colony, and from his inner consciousness he may often speak out the voice of his native land,—the cry of Nature for development, of people for wise government. Experienced in almost every industry which has smiled upon Western Australia, and prominently associated with her legislative institutions since their inception, he is well acquainted with all her requirements and aspirations; and he was wisely chosen as a pioneer Cabinet Minister under responsible government, and his work as Commissioner for Lands and Mines was earnest and complete. He spared neither time nor labour to place these State departments in easy working order, and with his colleagues in the Forrest Government, he helped to guide the State machine through its infant struggles, and to bestow prosperity to the whole colony.

Fremantle gave birth to William Edward Marmion, and that centre has rightly received the best results of his life of public utility. He was born on 22nd October, 1845, and the son of Mr. Patrick Marmion, who for a number of years was engaged in active mercantile pursuits in the colony. The boy received his school education at Fremantle and Perth, and when sixteen or seventeen years old, entered the more practical educational establishments to be found in mercantile affairs. He did not long remain a pupil here, for when twenty-one he rose to the rank of master. He opened a business in Fremantle, and remained prominently associated with commercial affairs up to his fortieth year. At first he conducted his commercial concerns under the name of W. E. Marmion, but subsequently, when his enterprise had extended, his business name was changed to W. E. Marmion and Co. During these nineteen years he went prominently into three great Western Australian industries—the pastoral, the pearling, and the maritime. His pastoral interests extended over the districts of Murchison, Gascoyne, North-West, and Kimberley. With others he owned considerable territory, representing in the aggregate millions of acres. These were stocked with sheep and cattle and horses. When the results of the explorations of Mr. Alex. Forrest in the Kimberley district became known, he was among the first to join others and take up extensive properties there, so that he may be esteemed a pioneer of that important pastoral centre. He is still largely concerned in this great industry. He was for some years part proprietor of pearling craft operating on the north-west coast, and was thus able to materially assist in the development of these industries, which returned such handsome profits to the colony, and so largely advertised its importance in the markets of the Old World. From the age of twenty-four to thirty-eight he conducted large shipping operations. In more recent years he has devoted much of his energies to that new and superlatively important industry—mining. Western Australia would still remain comparatively in the backward condition of a few years ago were it not for this growing source of wealth. From the earliest inception of general interest in local mineral deposits, Mr. Marmion has helped by capital, enterprise, and advice in stimulating the work of prospectors. He was concerned in the formation of companies which worked on the Yilgarn-Southern Cross—Goldfields in the eighties, notably the Centrals, Fraser's, and Centrals Extended Companies. These were three of the pioneer mines of Southern Cross, and almost of Western Australia. He is a director of the two first named. As prospecting was pushed further afield than the Cross, he followed it closely, and assisted in the fitting out of prospecting parties, which helped to prove the magnificent resources of the lonely deserts. He was a member of the Dunn Prospecting Syndicate which discovered the Wealth of Nations mine and the Lone Hand reefs, besides numerous others. At present Mr. Marmion is associated with mining interests in the Southern Cross, Coolgardie, East Coolgardie, North Coolgardie, and the Murchison districts. All this serves to show how extensively he has been identified with the development of the primary Western Australian industries, which have attracted capital and population from all over the world, and which have brought the colony from stagnation to a beneficent prosperity.

To turn to the political aspect of Mr. Marmion's career, up to the year 1870 the old Legislative Council consisted of nominees and semi-elective members, either official or non-official. But in that year colonists most reasonably aspired to have some form of Representative Government. Their wishes were granted; the Council was dissolved, and the Constitution provided for a new Council twelve elective members and six nominee, to be made up by three official nominees and three unofficial. Mr. Marmion, who was then about twenty-five years old, stood for election for Fremantle. He was defeated in October, but Governor Weld did not desire that the colony should be without his services in Parliament, and with Messrs. S. P. Phillips and Maitland Brown, he was created an unofficial nominee member, while the official nominees were Messrs. F. P. Barlee, R. J. Walcott, and Mr. (now Sir) Malcolm Fraser, Agent-General for Western Australia in London. Since that date the Hon. W. E. Marmion has been actively identified with Parliamentary affairs, and sat in the Council until the granting of Responsible Government in 1890, and thereupon was chosen a member of the first House of Assembly, and still sits. He has indeed watched the growth of local political institutions, and has had a longer association with them than almost any surviving man in the colony. For two sessions he sat as a nominee member, and then a fresh election took place for Fremantle. Mr. Marmion forwarded the resignation of his seat to the Governor, and contested the election. He was again defeated by a small majority. The Governor, however, considered his services of sufficient value that he held over the acceptance of his resignation until after the elections, and when Mr. Marmion was unsuccessful, he forwarded it back. He, therefore, thus continued to sit. Then in 1873 an unfortunate accident occurred which deprived Fremantle of its first elected member, Mr. E. Newman. A writ was issued for the vacancy. Mr. Marmion a second time sent his resignation to the Governor, and stood for election. On this occasion he was chosen by a fair majority. For the intervening twenty-four years he has been re-elected at every election, whether to the Legislative Council or the Assembly.

In the Council Mr. Marmion evinced activity in all debates, and proved a very useful representative. His experience mercantile and industrial affairs proved of special value, and he was able to lend assistance to the passage of measures designed to safeguard and encourage the colony's trade. Because of this he was looked upon as a rising figure, one who would take no small part in guiding the colony out of stagnation to a prosperous condition. His financial attainments were such that he was for several years a member of the finance committee of the Council, which acted as an advisory board on public works and all financial matters. In the agitation for Responsible Government, in the latter part of the last decade, he was busy in advocating the concession, and when it was made and the first elections took place, he stood for Fremantle proper for a seat in the Assembly. His election was a foregone conclusion, for the Fremantle people did not wish to lose the services of one who had so long and so faithfully represented them. Sir John Forrest was entrusted with the formation of the first Cabinet,