Preceded by Allan McLean Nationality Australian Succeeded by Thomas Paterson | Preceded by James Bennett Succeeded by James Bennett Name George Wise | |
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Born 1 July 1853
Melbourne ( 1853-07-01 ) Died 31 July 1950(1950-07-31) (aged 97)
Sale, Victoria | ||
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George Henry Wise (1 July 1853 – 31 July 1950) was an Australian politician and solicitor.
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Wise was born in Melbourne and educated at Scotch College from five years old to when he matriculated in 1868. He became an articled clerk and was admitted to the bar in September 1874 and set up his own practice in 1877 in Sale. He was elected as a member of Sale Borough Council from 1880 to 1904 and was mayor six times. He married Mary Thornton, née Smith in 1880. He established the Sale branch of the Australian Natives' Association (ANA) in 1886 and became president of the Victorian branch of the ANA in 1891.
Political career
Wise was a strong supporter of the federation of Australia and stood unsuccessfully in 1892, 1894 and 1904 for election to the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He also failed to be elected to the Australian Senate in the 1901 election and 1903 election, but won the House of Representatives seat of Gippsland at the 1906 election by 97 votes from Allan McLean as a Protectionist. He could not accept the creation of the Fusion in 1909 and stood as an independent in 1910 and gained 62 percent of the vote against the Fusion candidate. He subsequently often supported the Australian Labor Party, but did not join it. Fusion candidate James Bennett beat him at the 1913 election, but he won Gippsland back in 1914, standing as an "Independent Labor" candidate.
Wise joined the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1916, thus reuniting him with many of his former Protectionist colleagues. He was easily reelected in 1917. Prime Minister Billy Hughes appointed him an honorary minister assisting the Minister for Defence from March 1918 to February 1920. He was Postmaster-General from February 1920 in the Fifth Hughes Ministry, but lost his position in the reshuffle when Stanley Bruce was brought into the ministry in December 1921. He was almost defeated by the Country Party in 1919 and he lost to its candidate, Thomas Paterson in 1922. He failed to win the seat back in 1925 and 1928.
Wise continued to practice as a solicitor until 1948 and died in Sale in 1950, survived by three daughters and a son.