{{Short description|Australian politician (1847–1936)}} {{For|the New Zealand politician|Aoraki (New Zealand electorate)#1999 election}} {{good article}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Sir Albert Gould | honorific_suffix = VD | image = Albert John Gould (cropped).jpg | caption = Gould in 1901 | title = President of the Senate | predecessor = Richard Baker | successor = Harry Turley | term_start = 20 February 1907 | term_end = 30 June 1910 | title1 = Senator for New South Wales | term_start1 = 29 March 1901 | term_end1 = 30 June 1917 | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1847|2|12}} | birth_place = Sydney | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1936|7|27|1847|2|12}} | death_place = Rose Bay, New South Wales | spouse = Jeanette Jessie Maitland | party = Free Trade (1887–1906) <br /> Anti-Socialist (1906–09) <br /> Liberal (1909–17) <br /> Nationalist (1917) | relations = | children = | alma_mater = University of Sydney | occupation = | profession = Solicitor | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Sir Albert John Gould''', VD (12 February 1847 – 27 July 1936) was an Australian politician and solicitor who served as the second president of the Australian Senate.
A solicitor, businessman and citizen soldier before his entry into politics, Gould was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1882 to 1898, during which time he served as Minister for Justice in two Free Trade governments. He later served two years in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1899 to 1901 until his election to the Australian Senate. Gould's interest in parliamentary procedure saw him become involved with the relevant standing committee and he was elected unopposed as the second President of the Senate in 1907. His tenure is remembered as more traditionalist and Anglophilic than his predecessor's.
Defeated by the Labor nominee in 1910 following the Liberal government's defeat, Gould remained in parliament as a backbencher until 1917, when he retired after he was not re-endorsed by the Nationalist Party. He was active in community and religious affairs during his long retirement.
==Early life and career==
Gould was born in Sydney, the son of solicitor John Morton Gould and his wife Anne (''née'' Livingstone). He attended William Woolls' school in Parramatta, and went on to study law at the University of Sydney, although he did not take a degree.<ref name=ADB>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=McMinn |first=W G |year=1983 |id2=gould-sir-albert-john-6436 |title=Gould, Sir Albert John (1847–1936) |access-date=2021-04-21}}</ref><ref name=nsw>{{cite NSW Parliament |title=Sir Albert John Gould (1847–1936) |id=897 |former=Yes |access-date=13 May 2019}}</ref> He served his articles with his father and was admitted to the bar in December 1870. He then worked in Singleton for a Sydney legal firm.<ref name=Senate>{{cite Au Senate |last=Gould |first=Gillian |editor-last=Millar |editor-first=Ann |title=Gould, Sir Albert John (1847–1936) |sen id=albert-john-gould |pages=15–18 |year=2000 |isbn=0-522-84921-0 |access-date=2022-12-22}}</ref> Gould also developed significant business interests, being involved with the Great Cobar Copper Mining syndicate and serving as a director of the Electric Light and Power Supply Corporation, the City Bank of Sydney and the Oriental Timber Corporation.<ref name=Senate/><ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-05-29 |title=ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239044085 |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |pages=12}}</ref> On 12 September 1872, he married Jeanette Jessie Maitland at St Paul's Church of England in West Maitland.<ref name=Senate/>
Gould was also a citizen soldier, enlisting as a volunteer in the West Maitland company of the New South Wales volunteer forces. He later took command of the Singleton Company, becoming a major in 1886.<ref name=Senate/> He later received the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for long service; he would retire from the regiment in 1902 as a lieutenant-colonel.<ref name=ADB/>
==State politics==
In 1882, Gould was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Patrick's Plains (renamed Singleton in 1894). Initially an opponent of the coalition associated with Henry Parkes and John Robertson, he later supported Robertson's government in 1885.<ref name=ADB/> By 1887 he was supporting his career with his own legal practice in Singleton and Sydney, and when the party system came into being in New South Wales in that year he identified as a Free Trader. In 1889 he was appointed Minister for Justice under Parkes, serving until 1891; he held the position again under George Reid from 1894 to 1898.<ref name=Senate/> During the first period of his ministry he became involved in a dispute with the Chief Justice, Sir Frederick Darley, over requests for improved court accommodation and a contested punishment for contempt of two witnesses. Despite embarrassing his premier, he remained close with Parkes throughout his state career and in later years frequently gave speeches in his memory.<ref name=ADB/>
Gould's career as justice minister was marked by consolidation of the law, tightening of licensing laws and reforms relating to police courts. A supporter of Federation,<ref name=Senate/> he nevertheless opposed the 1898 bill, which he believed deprived New South Wales of adequate recognition.<ref name=ADB/> He was defeated in the election of that year, but in 1899 he was one of Premier Reid's twelve appointments to the Legislative Council that enabled the passage of the legislation for a referendum on Federation.<ref name=Senate/>
==Senate career==
Following Federation, Gould contested the first federal election in March 1901, standing for the Senate as a Free Trader. He was elected in the third of six positions, entitling him to a six-year term.<ref name=Psephos1901>{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=1901 Senate – New South Wales|work=Psephos|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1901/1901senatensw.txt|year=2011|access-date=27 March 2011}}</ref> His first speech was largely devoted to his impassioned support for free trade, and in his early years as a senator he also supported decentralisation and opposed proposals to establish a federal capital.<ref name=Senate/> Gould was also involved in defence matters, supporting the introduction of conscription and maintaining loyalty to the Empire, where "there are men much more experienced in the principles of government than we are".<ref name=Senate/> At the 1906 election, Gould was easily re-elected in the first position,<ref name=Psephos>{{cite web|last=Carr|first=Adam|title=1906 Senate – New South Wales|work=Psephos|url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1906/1906senatensw.txt|year=2011|access-date=27 March 2011}}</ref> winning the largest vote for any senator to that time.<ref name=Senate/>
A supporter of the White Australia policy, Gould expressed concern over Kanaka labour in Queensland, although his assumption that the arrangement was temporary enabled his pragmatism on this issue.<ref name=Senate/> In 1908, he opposed the Deakin government's exclusion of Indigenous Australians from the ''Invalid and Old-Age Pensions Act 1908'', stating "the treatment of the Australian aboriginals has been a crying disgrace and shame to the people of Australia ... why should an aboriginal native of this country, in which practically we are intruders, be denied an old-age pension?".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Conditional Inclusion: Aborigines and Welfare Rights in Australia, 1900–47|first=John|last=Murphy|year=2013|doi=10.1080/1031461X.2013.791707|journal=Australian Historical Studies|volume=44|issue=2|page=209}}</ref>
From 1901 Gould maintained an interest in the procedure of the Senate, and was a member of the standing orders committee from its appointment in 1901 until 1907. He had supported the opening of Senate proceedings with prayer and had made frequent reference to the standing orders of the British House of Commons.<ref name=Senate/> He contested the Presidency of the Senate in 1904, but was defeated by the incumbent, Sir Richard Baker.<ref name=Senate/> On Baker's retirement, Gould was unanimously elected president on 20 February 1907. He endeavoured to keep the Senate representative of the states' interests and free from party politics, and his rulings focused on unparliamentary language and relevance.<ref name=Senate/> Gould, appointed Knight Bachelor in 1908,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=28206 |pages=9650 |date=18 December 1908}}</ref><ref>{{Cite It's an Honour |ausawardid=1083498 |date=18 December 1908 |recipient=Lieutenant-Colonel Albert John Gould |award=Knight Bachelor (Imperial) |access-date=2021-08-28}}</ref> differed from his predecessor in his adherence to British influence.<ref name=Evans>{{cite Au Senate |last=Evans |first=Harry |author-link=Harry Evans (Australian Senate clerk) |editor-last=Millar |editor-first=Ann |title=Introduction |volume=1 |sen id=wp-content/docs/intro_vol1.pdf |pages=1–11 |year=2000 |isbn=0-522-84921-0 |access-date=2022-12-22}}</ref> With the election of the Fisher Labor Government in 1910, Gould was defeated by Harry Turley for the presidency.<ref name=Senate/>
Despite his support for conscription, Gould was not endorsed by the new Nationalist Party to contest the 1917 election. Deeply offended, Gould nevertheless elected to retire rather than run as an independent and split the Nationalist vote.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=Senate/>
==Later life==
In his retirement, Gould continued his community involvement. A director of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, he also served as a member and chancellor of the Sydney and Newcastle synods of the Church of England.<ref name=ADB/> He died in July 1936 at Rose Bay aged 89; he was survived by two sons and three daughters (his wife died in 1928; one daughter had also predeceased him).<ref name=Senate/> Gould was given a state funeral at St Andrew's Cathedral and was buried at South Head Cemetery.<ref name=ADB/>
==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-nsw}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Thomas Slattery}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister for Justice|years=1889{{spaced ndash}}1891}} {{s-aft|after=Richard O'Connor}} {{s-bef|before=Thomas Slattery}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister for Justice|years=1894{{spaced ndash}}1898}} {{s-aft|after=Charles Lee}} {{s-par|au-nsw-la}} {{s-bef|before=John Brown}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Patrick's Plains|years=1882{{spaced ndash}}1894}} {{s-non|reason=District abolished |reason2=Replaced by Singleton}} {{s-new|district}} {{s-ttl|title=Member for Singleton|years=1894{{spaced ndash}}1898}} {{s-aft|after=Charles Dight}} {{s-par|au}} {{succession box | title=President of the Senate | before=Richard Baker |after=Harry Turley |years=1907{{spaced ndash}}1910}} {{s-end}}
{{President of the Australian Senate}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Albert}} Category:1847 births Category:1936 deaths Category:Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:Presidents of the Australian Senate Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Category:Australian Anglicans Category:Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Ministers for justice (New South Wales) Category:Australian Knights Bachelor