Harper, Charles (1842 - 1912)

Summary

Charles Harper was a successful businessman who worked in a variety of fields: he ran several sheep stations and mixed farms; carried out vital research into farming and agricultural techniques and was the first person in Western Australia to irrigate with artesian water; invented many useful technologies including a shearing machine and a process for treating effluent from septic tanks; a proprietor of three newspapers (Western Australian Times, West Australian, Western Mail); a successful pearler; a long-term member of the Western Australian Parliament, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and a chair of many royal commissions. Harper also explored remote parts of Western Australia in search of pastoral lands (1860s) and became fluent in the local Aboriginal language.

Details

At a very young age (around 16), Charles Harper set off to the south-east of Western Australia to establish his own farm. He spent several years farming there before joining the search for pastoral lands in the Yilgarn district. He then took up pearling for a short term and from those proceeds bought into the de Gray sheep station (1871). He sold his share in 1878 and bought into a smaller property in Yanrey.

In 1879 Harper bought the Western Australian Times newspaper, got married and moved to Woodbridge where he established a mixed sheep, dairy, wheat and orchard farm. The farm proved to be very successful and lead to many agricultural advances including irrigation with artesian water and the establishment of the first local wheat varieties. In 1885 he established the West Australian and Western Mail newspapers and used them to report his farming research findings.

Harper joined the Legislative Council in 1878 as a representative of the North District. He spent the most part of the next twenty-seven years in the Council representing various districts. Harper also chaired many royal commissions including those into customs (1893) and immigration (1905) and was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in 1903 by the Liberal premier Walter James.

Chronology

1861

Career position - Exploration for pastoral lands in the Yilgarn district of Western Australia (WA)

1864

Career position - Exploration for pastoral lands in the Yilgarn district with Barnard Clarkson

1865

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus orbifolia F. Muell. Harper collected the type

1866

Career position - Exploration for pastoral lands in Roebourne, WA

1871 - 1878

Career position - Co-owner of de Grey station in WA

1878 - 1880

Career position - Representative for North District, Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia

1878 - 1904

Career position - Co-owner of a station in Yanrey, WA

1879 -

Career position - Proprietor of the Western Australian Times newspaper

1884 - 1890

Career position - Representative for York, Legislative Council, Parliament of Western Australia

1885 -

Career position - Owner of the West Australian and Western Mail newspapers

1890 - 1905

Career position - Member for Beverley, Legislative Assembly, Parliament of Western Australia

1893

Career position - Chair of the Royal commission on customs

1897 - 1903

Career position - Chairman of Committees, Legislative Assembly, Parliament of Western Australial

1902

Career position - Chair, Royal Commission on the Coolgardie water scheme

1903

Career position - Chair, Royal Commission on forestry

1904

Career position - Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Parliament of Western Australia

1905

Career position - Chair, Royal Commission on immigration

Related entries

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• Brooker, Leslie, Expedition Eastwards from Northam by the Dempster Brothers, Clarkson, Harper and Correll, July-August 1861 (Carlisle: Hesperian Press, 2007), 87 pp. Details
• Mercer, F. R., The Life of Charles Harper (Perth: 1958). Details

Book Sections

• Battye, O. K., 'Harper, Charles (1842-1912), agriculturist, legislator and newspaper proprietor' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), pp. 348-349. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040395b.htm. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5078788. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93160004. Details
• 'Harper, Charles (18420715-19120420)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-557971. Details

See also

• Milne, Pina, 'Retracing history through herbarium specimens', Studies in Western Australian history, 35 (2020), 75-87. Details