Speaker's chair, Parliament House, Brisbane, c 1934. The Courier-Mail 2 October 1934 THE JOB OF BEING SPEAKER - IT USED TO BE A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION 35620243 ) By the HON. GEORGE POLLOCK, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly YES! Anything to oblige! The title 'Mr. Speaker'- is very bewildering to the man who casually visits Parliament to learn at first hand what his local political hero Is doing to earn his salary. A precocious schoolboy once said to me, 'Why do they call you Mr. Speaker? You're the only bloke who doesn't speak.' But the historian Knows! The appellation originated with t
Speaker's chair, Parliament House, Brisbane, c 1934. The Courier-Mail 2 October 1934 THE JOB OF BEING SPEAKER - IT USED TO BE A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION 35620243 ) By the HON. GEORGE POLLOCK, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly YES! Anything to oblige! The title 'Mr. Speaker'- is very bewildering to the man who casually visits Parliament to learn at first hand what his local political hero Is doing to earn his salary. A precocious schoolboy once said to me, 'Why do they call you Mr. Speaker? You're the only bloke who doesn't speak.' But the historian Knows! The appellation originated with the first House of Commons. In those days Kings had the happy (?) knack of calling Parliament together only when they ran short of money. The supply may have been needed to pay the King's Army and Navy, or per chance to buy a pair of fancied emerald and diamond earrings — with brooch and solitaire to match — for his Majesty's especial little favourite. A sweeping survey of the history of those days indicates that one or the other of these two excuses was almost invariably used to bring the landed gentry to a meeting of the Parliament of which they comprised the members. Having assembled, ye said Yeomen stroked their beards and spoke unto the chairman of the gathering thusly: — 'Mr. Speaker, go thou unto his Majesty and tell him that we won't raise a bean until certain burning grievances are redressed. For in stance, whisper unto his Royal Nibs that a fat pension ought to be given to the widow of your predecessor, whose head was hung on his Majesty's front garden gate last session be cause we asked him to convey to the King the sad news that he would have to cut down the Royal harem's over head.' This may not have been the exact wording, but it is the sense of some of the messages. In those days there were no Governments. The King was the Big Boss. But only the Commons (or common people's representatives) could hand out the money for the Boss's use. Hence the title of S
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Keywords: 1930s, 1934, archival, archive, archives, australia, australian, brisbane, collection, heritage, historic, historical, history, house, image, parliament, photo, qsa, queensland, reference, speaker, state, vintage
