Editing Hal Colebatch (section)

{{Short description|Australian politician (1872-1953)}}
{{about|the politician|his son the author and journalist|Hal Colebatch (author)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
|name = Sir Hal Colebatch
|honorific-suffix =  [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]]
|image = Portrait of Sir Hal Colebatch (cropped).jpg
|caption = 
|alt = Portrait of man wearing suit
|order = 12th
|office = Premier of Western Australia
|monarch = [[George V]]
|governor = [[William Ellison-Macartney|Sir William Ellison-Macartney]]
|term_start = 17 April 1919
|term_end = 17 May 1919
|predecessor = [[Henry Lefroy|Sir Henry Lefroy]]
|successor = [[James Mitchell (Australian politician)|Sir James Mitchell]]
|office1 = [[Minister for Education (Western Australia)|Minister for Education]]
|term_start1 = 27 July 1916
|term_end1 = 17 June 1923
|predecessor1 = [[Thomas Walker (Australian politician)|Thomas Walker]]
|successor1 = [[John Ewing (Australian politician)|John Ewing]]
|office2 = [[Minister for Health (Western Australia)|Minister for Public Health]]
|term_start2 = 17 May 1919
|term_end2 = 3 April 1921
|successor2 = [[Frank Broun]]
|office3 = Member of the [[Western Australian Legislative Council]]
|constituency3 = [[East Province (Western Australia)|East Province]]
|term_start3 = 22 May 1912
|term_end3 = 17 June 1923
|predecessor3 = [[Warren Marwick]]
|successor3 = [[William Carroll (Australian politician)|William Carroll]]
|alongside3 = [[Vernon Hamersley]], [[Thomas Wilding]] and [[Charles Baxter (politician)|Charles Baxter]]
|office4 = [[Australian Senate|Senator]] for [[List of senators from Western Australia|Western Australia]]
|term_start4 = 1 July 1929
|term_end4 = 20 March 1933
|predecessor4 = [[Charles Graham (Western Australian politician)|Charles Graham]]{{br}}[[Ted Needham]]
|successor4 = [[Herbert Collett]]
|alongside4 = [[George Pearce]], [[Patrick Lynch (Australian politician)|Patrick Lynch]], [[Walter Kingsmill]], [[William Carroll (Australian politician)|William Carroll]] and [[Bertie Johnston]]
|office5 = Member of the [[Western Australian Legislative Council]]
|constituency5 = [[Metropolitan Province (Western Australia)|Metropolitan Province]]
|term_start5 = 22 May 1940
|term_end5 = 21 May 1948
|predecessor5 = [[James Franklin (politician)|James Franklin]]
|successor5 = [[Keith Watson (politician)|Keith Watson]]{{br}}[[Harry Hearn]]
|alongside5 = [[Leonard Bolton]] and [[James Gordon Hislop]]
|birth_name = Harry Pateshall Colebatch
|birth_date = {{birth date|1872|3|29|df=y}}
|birth_place = Underley, [[Wolferlow]], [[Herefordshire]], England
|death_date = {{death date and age|1953|2|12|1872|3|29|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Perth]], Western Australia, Australia
|resting_place = [[Karrakatta Cemetery]]
|party = [[Western Australian Liberal Party (1911–1917)|Liberal]] (1912–1917){{br}}[[Nationalist Party (Australia)|Nationalist]] (1917–){{br}}[[United Australia Party]]{{br}}[[Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division)|Liberal]] (1945–1948)
|spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|Mary Maude Saunders|1896|1940|end=d}} {{br}}
* {{Marriage|Marion Frances Gibson|1944}}
}}
|children = [[Hal Colebatch (author)|Hal G. P. Colebatch]]
|occupation = Journalist, politician
}}

'''Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|CMG}} (29 March 1872 – 12 February 1953) was a long-serving figure in [[Western Australia]]n politics. He was a member of the [[Western Australian Legislative Council]] for nearly 20 years, the twelfth [[Premier of Western Australia]] for a month in 1919, [[Agent-General for Western Australia|agent-general in London]] for five years, and a [[Australian Senate|senator]] for four years. He was known for supporting free trade, federalism and [[Secessionism in Western Australia|Western Australian secessionism]], and for opposing communism, socialism and fascism. Born in England, his family migrated to [[South Australia]] when Colebatch was four years old. He left school aged 11 and worked for several newspapers in South Australia before moving to [[Broken Hill]] in New South Wales in 1888 to work as a reporter for the ''Silver Age''. In 1894, he moved to the [[Goldfields (Western Australia)|Western Australian Goldfields]] following the [[Western Australian gold rushes|gold rush]] there, working for the ''Golden Age'' in [[Coolgardie]] and the ''[[Kalgoorlie Miner]]'' in [[Kalgoorlie]]. Two years later, he moved to [[Perth]] to join the ''[[Morning Herald (Perth)|Morning Herald]]'', but after that newspaper collapsed, he moved to [[Northam, Western Australia|Northam]] where he started ''[[The Northam Advertiser]]''. He also became friends with local bank manager [[James Mitchell (Australian politician)|James Mitchell]] and convinced Mitchell to run for [[Parliament of Western Australia|state parliament]]. Colebatch was the mayor of [[Town of Northam|Northam]] between 1909 and 1912.

Colebatch became a member of parliament himself when he was elected to the [[East Province (Western Australia)|East Province]] of the [[Western Australian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]] in 1912. Upon [[Frank Wilson (politician)|Frank Wilson]] becoming premier in July 1916, Colebatch was appointed [[Minister for Education (Western Australia)|Minister for Education]] and [[Colonial Secretary of Western Australia|Colonial Secretary]]. During a [[Spanish flu]] outbreak in South Australia and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] in early 1919, Colebatch was Acting Premier as Premier [[Henry Lefroy]] was travelling interstate. Colebatch chose to close the [[Western Australian border]], leaving Lefroy and two ministers stuck outside the state. In April 1919, Lefroy resigned as premier and Colebatch took over, making him the only premier to come from the Legislative Council rather than the Legislative Assembly. The major event during his premiership was the [[1919 Fremantle Wharf riot]], in which two [[Trade union|unions]] were fighting with each other. Colebatch resigned as premier one month after taking the job and was succeeded by Mitchell.

Colebatch served as a minister in the [[James ministry]] for four years, but resigned to become agent-general in 1923. He served most of his time as agent-general under a [[Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor]] government as [[Phillip Collier]] beat Mitchell in an election in [[1924 Western Australian state election|March 1924]]. While agent-general, he toured Italy and met [[Benito Mussolini]], which led him to form his anti-fascist political beliefs. After returning to Australia in 1927, he wrote a book at the request of Collier on the history of Western Australia to commemorate the [[Centenary of Western Australia|state's centenary]]. He also sat on the Royal Commission on the Constitution. In [[1928 Australian federal election|1928]], he was elected to the [[Australian Senate]], where he spent much of his time criticising [[protectionism]], blaming it for worsening the [[Great Depression]]. He resigned in 1933 to take the position of agent-general again.

The [[1933 Western Australian secession referendum|Western Australian secession referendum]] occurred soon after Colebatch became agent-general, in which 66.23% of electors voted in favour of seceding. Colebatch was thus appointed to lead a delegation to the [[British Parliament]] to request secession. The delegation was unsuccessful, with a parliamentary [[Select committee (parliamentary system)|select committee]] deciding that allowing Western Australia to secede would go against [[Constitutional convention (political custom)|constitutional conventions]]. Colebatch continued on as agent-general until 1939, where he would make several trips to Germany to meet with anti-fascists as well as Nazi political figures. After returning to Australia, he was elected to the Legislative Council again, this time for the [[Metropolitan Province (Western Australia)|Metropolitan Province]]. He would serve there for eight years, and during this time, would frequently write in ''The Northam Advertiser'' about his view on [[World War II]]. He contested the [[1948 Western Australian Legislative Council election|1948 election]] but failed to be elected. Colebatch died in 1953 and was buried in [[Karrakatta Cemetery]].