Also Known AsH. F. WalkerHarry Frederick WalkerAdditional InformationHarry Frederick Walker was born in Gympie, Queensland on 15 April 1873. In his early life we was employed in engine driving and mining. He was a member of the Queensland Light Horse and represented Queensland on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. He served in the Queensland contingent in the 1899-1902 Boer War. Upon his return he took up farming in Coles Creek in 1903. In 1907, he entered the state parliament for Wide Bay as a supporter of Sir Robert Philp. In 1912, he was elected as the first member for the newly established electorate of Cooroora and held the seat until he retired in 1946. He was a member of the Country Party and served as Minister for Agriculture and Stock in the Moore government of 1929-1932. During this time he was responsible for reforms which brought about advantages for the ‘man on the land’. He retired from parliamentary duties in 1947 when he was notified that the King (through the Governor) had approved of his retaining the title of ‘Honourable’.
Harry was one of the first directors of the Wide Bay Dairy Association and was involved with the organisation until 1932. He was also the Queensland representative to the Butter Board and chairman of directors of the Murrarie Co-op Association.
Harry moved to Tewantin in 1920. His home ‘Cooroora’ on Diyan Street, adjacent to the Royal Mail Hotel, ‘dispensed hospitable welcomes to his numerous guests’. Harry was heavily involved in the civic affairs of the town.
He died on 23 October 1950 and was farewelled with a State funeral. The funeral cortege left from St Peter’s Church of England (Gympie) and Harry was buried in Gympie Cemetery. He is memorialised in Tewantin with a fountain in Memorial Park.
Harry was married to Rosanna Martin for 57 years and had five children: Charlotte Walker (1894-1980), Harry James Walker (1897-1976), Edna May Walker (1903-1990), William Henry Walker (1904 - 1995) and Thomas Noel Walker (1911- 1999).
His son Harry James married Edith Elizabeth Parkyn, daughter of Richard Bray Parkyn and Margaret Shields. His daughter Edna May married Herbert John “Bert” Pearen, who owned the Tewantin Fish Works. These marriages connected the Walker family to two other notable Tewantin families.
SOURCE:
Nambour Chronicle, 27 October 1950, p. 6
Courier Mail, 24 October 1950
