Charles Frazer (Australian politician)

Charles Edward Frazer (2 January 1880 – 25 November 1913) was an Australian politician.

Frazer was born in Yarrawonga, Victoria and educated locally until he was 15, when he left for Western Australia during its goldrush. He found a job with the Western Australian Government Railways, qualified as a first-class engine driver in 1899 and moved to Boulder, where he worked as a mine-engine driver. He was elected as president of his branch of his union in 1902 and secretary of the Goldfields Trades and Labor Council in 1903. In August 1904 he married Mary Kinnane.^[1]

Political career

In November 1902, Frazer was elected to Kalgoorlie Municipal Council and was elected as the member for Kalgoorlie in the federal parliament at the 1903 election, representing the Australian Labor Party. In parliament, he studied law in order to improve his leadership skills, campaigned successfully for the Labor parliamentary caucus to select the ministry when in office and for Labor to stop supporting Protectionist Party governments. Following Labor's success at the 1910 election, he served as honorary minister in the Second Fisher Ministry and in October 1911 became Postmaster-General.

He was a strong supporter for a uniform stamp for all of Australia, which was still using the old colonial (now state) issues. His first issue, now known to philatelists as the Kangaroo and Map series, was designed by Blamire Young and issued in 1913^[2]

Frazer died unexpectedly from pneumonia in November 1913.^[1]

Notes