James Hiers McColl was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician.

McColl was born in South Shields

South Shields

South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

, Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the son of Hugh McColl

Hugh McColl (pioneer)

Hugh McColl was a Scottish-born irrigation pioneer in Australia.McColl was born in Glasgow, eldest son of James McColl and his wife Agnes, née Cowan and worked for fifteen years as a bookseller...

, and migrated with his family to Australia in 1853, but his mother died before they landed in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

. McColl was educated at the Model School, Sandhurst

Bendigo, Victoria

Bendigo is a major regional city in the state of Victoria, Australia, located very close to the geographical centre of the state and approximately north west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the second largest inland city and fourth most populous city in the state. The estimated urban...

 and for a time at Scotch College, Melbourne

Scotch College, Melbourne

Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

. He married Emily Boyle in January 1867 and subsequently became an insurance agent and legal manager.

Political career

McColl supported irrigation

Irrigation in Australia

Irrigation in Australia is a widespread practice to supplement low rainfall levels in Australia with water from other sources to assist in the production of crops or pasture. As the driest inhabited continent, irrigation is required in many areas for production of crops for domestic and export use...

 and closer settlement and won the seat of Mandurang

Electoral district of Mandurang

The Electoral district of Mandurang was an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly , around Bendigo.-Members of Mandurang:-See also:*Parliaments of the Australian states and territories...

 in the Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Assembly

The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

 in 1886, moving to the seat of Gunbower

Electoral district of Gunbower

The Electoral district of Gunbower was an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.-Members for Gunbower:-See also:*Parliaments of the Australian states and territories*List of members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly...

 in 1889. He was Minister of Mines and of Water Supply from January 1893 to September 1894 and President of the Board of Land and Works, Commissioner Crown Lands and Survey and Minister Forests from December 1899 to November 1900. As minister, he was responsible for the first purchase of large estates so that they could be sub-divided for closer settlement.

McColl was a strong supporter of Australian federation and won the House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of Echuca

Division of Echuca

The Division of Echuca was anAustralian Electoral Division in Victoria.The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1937. It was named for the town of Echuca. It was located in the Murray Valley area,...

 at the first federal election, in 1901 as a Protectionist

Protectionist Party

The Protectionist Party was an Australian political party, formally organised from 1889 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. It argued that Australia needed protective tariffs to allow Australian industry to grow and provide employment. It had its greatest strength in Victoria and in...

. At the 1906 election, he moved to the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

, his term commencing on 1 January 1907. He was the first person to have served in both houses of the parliament

People who have served in both Houses of the Australian Parliament

This is a list of Members of the Australian Parliament who have served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.Section 43 of the Constitution of Australia says: "A member of either House of the Parliament shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a member of the other...

.

He was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council

Vice-President of the Executive Council

The Vice-President of the Federal Executive Council is a position in Australian federal governments, whose holder acts as presiding officer of the Federal Executive Council in the absence of the Governor-General....

 in the Cook Ministry

Cook Ministry

The Cook Ministry was the tenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 24 June 1913 to 17 September 1914.Commonwealth Liberal Party*Hon Joseph Cook, MP: Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs*Rt Hon Sir John Forrest, GCMG MP: Treasurer...

 from June 1913 to September 1914. He was defeated at the 1914 election

Australian federal election, 1914

Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 September 1914. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and all 36 seats in the Senate were up for election in a double dissolution...

.

McColl bought an irrigation farm at Gunbower

Gunbower, Victoria

Gunbower is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Campaspe, north of the state capital, Melbourne on the banks of Gunbower Creek...

 (near Cohuna

Cohuna, Victoria

Cohuna is a town situated north of Melbourne, on the Murray Valley Highway, in northern Victoria, Australia. At the 2006 census, Cohuna had a population of 1,893.-History:...

), but later retired to the Melbourne suburb of Deepdene

Balwyn, Victoria

Balwyn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara...

. His first wife had died in 1898 and he remarried Sarah Ann Thomas in January 1900. He died in Melbourne, survived by his wife and their two sons and a daughter and two daughters from his first marriage.