Barnes, George Powell
Personal
Birth Date:
20 September 1856 (Castlemaine, Victoria)
Death Date:
9 December 1949 (Brisbane, Queensland)
Parents:
Hiram Barnes and Catherine (nee Dawes)
Family:
Mary Cecilia Merry in 1879, 4 sons, 4 daughters
Education:
Ipswich and Brisbane National schools
Religion:
Methodist
Career
Acquired dairy farms at Mount Tabor and Canning Downs; Partnership dissolved in 1893; Formed milling business with John Archibald (former Legislative Council member), 1885; Opened produce firm with brother Walter and TF Merry, Barnes & Co. Ltd., 1880; Established own store in Warwick, 1878; Became junior partner with Merry and Tucker in Toowoomba, 1874; Purchased drapery business in Warwick, 1873; Assistant at Finney, Isles and Coy store in Brisbane, 1871; Clerk at Morgan Davies' store in Gympie, 1870; Cashier at TF Merry's store in Toowoomba, 1868
Local Government Service:
Long-serving member of the Warwick Shire Council
Parliamentary Representation
| House | Party | Electorate | From | To | Elected/Departure Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly | IND | Warwick | 5 Feb 1908 | 1 Oct 1909 | |
| Assembly | CPNP | Warwick | 8 May 1926 | 11 May 1935 | Did not contest |
| Assembly | MIN | Warwick | 2 Oct 1909 | 21 May 1915 | |
| Assembly | LIB | Warwick | 22 May 1915 | 15 Mar 1918 | |
| Assembly | NAT | Warwick | 16 Mar 1918 | 11 May 1923 | |
| Assembly | UAP | Warwick | 12 May 1923 | 7 May 1926 |
Additional Information
Notes:
George Barnes' father, Hiram, was a senior driver for Cobb & Co. and established the company in Queensland. In 1865 he took 16 coaches from Bathurst to Brisbane. In 1868 he commenced the Brisbane-Gympie-Maryborough run. Hiram Barnes made a fortune on his first day on the Castlemaine goldfields. Member, Warwick Chamber of Commerce, the Co-operative Dairy Co., the Warwick School of Arts, the Ambulance Society and the fire brigade. Vice-president, the Eastern Downs Agricultural and Horticulturist Society. George Barnes was a philanthropist and had a reputation for helping the struggling farmer. He was given a civic funeral with the mayor, aldermen and members of the Warwick Council forming a guard of honour at the church and at the graveside
Sources:
Image courtesy of John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland; Letter from Claire Wagner, great-niece to George and Walter Barnes, 11 Mar 2004; Courier-Mail, 'Civic funeral at Warwick', 10 Dec 1949; Lack, Clem, Three Decades of Queensland Political History, 1929-1960 (Brisbane: Government Printer, 1962); Waterson, DB and John Arnold, Biographical Register of the Queensland Parliament: 1930-1980, (Canberra: ANU Press, 1982); Waterson, DB, Biographical Register of the Queensland Parliament: 1860-1929, 2nd revised edition (Sydney: Casket Publications, 2001); Costar, B.J., Barnes, Walter Henry (1858–1933), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
[Last Modified: Monday, 27 February 2017]