Charles Buzacott

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Charles Hardie Buzacott (1 August 1835-19 July 1918), journalist and politician, was born in Torrington, Devonshire, England.

He came to Sydney with his parents in 1852 and joining the Empire newspaper learned to be a compositor. In 1860 he went to Maryborough, Queensland, and founded the Maryborough Chronicle, but four years later sold it, went to Clermont, and started the Peak Downs Telegram, which he edited until 1870. In that year he bought the Rockhampton Bulletin and in 1873 he became member of the Queensland legislative assembly for Rockhampton. In 1874 and again in 1876 he brought in bills to establish an eight-hour day in Queensland, but he was in advance of his times and did not succeed in getting them past the committee stage. He resigned from the assembly in 1877, in 1878 removed to Brisbane, and became a leader writer on the Courier. Having been returned to the assembly again, in January 1879 he became postmaster-general in McIlwraith's first ministry, and was responsible for the drafting of the divisional boards measure which was the foundation of later Queensland local government acts. He was an active minister, and during his two years of office he united the hitherto separate post and telegraph departments, and succeeded in having tenders called for a Torres Straits service between Brisbane and London.

The telephone was also introduced during his period. Pressure of other business compelled him to give up politics at the end of 1880. He subsequently bought a large interest in the Brisbane Newspaper Company and became its managing director until 1894. After a period as an occasional contributor to the Courier, he bought the Rockhampton Argus and converted it into an evening paper the Daily Record. He was a member of the legislative council from 1894 to 1901 but did not hold office again. He founded the Daily Mail, Brisbane, in 1904, and in spite of his advancing years carried it through its early difficulties as editor and managing director. He retired to Stanthorpe in 1906 but continued to make occasional contributions to the press until not long before his death in 1918. He married Louisa Whiteford in 1857 who survived him with three sons and two daughters.

[edit] References

• Serle, Percival. (1949). "Buzacott, Charles Hardie". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from
Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.