View source for William Foster (New South Wales politician, born 1865)

{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{other people|William Foster|William Foster (disambiguation){{!}}William Foster}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = William Frederick Foster
| honorific-suffix    = [[Esquire]]
| image               = William Frederick Foster.jpg
| office1             = [[List of mayors of Woollahra|Mayor of Woollahra]]
| term_start1         = 8 December 1922
| term_end1           = 10 December 1925
| 1blankname1         = Mayor
| predecessor1        = James Polidore Bradley
| successor1          = Leo Whitby Robinson
| constituency_AM2    = [[Electoral district of Eastern Suburbs (New South Wales)|Eastern Suburbs]]
| assembly2           = New South Wales Legislative
| term_start2         = 30 May 1925
| term_end2           = 7 September 1927
| predecessor2        = [[Hyman Goldstein (politician)|Hyman Goldstein]]
| successor2          = ''Seat abolished''
| constituency_MP3    = [[Electoral district of Vaucluse|Vaucluse]]
| parliament3         = New South Wales
| term_start3         = 8 October 1927
| term_end3           = 21 July 1936
| predecessor3        = ''New seat''
| successor3          = [[Murray Robson]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1865|08|29}}
| birth_place         = [[Brisbane]], [[Colony of Queensland]], [[British Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1936|07|21|1865|08|29}}
| death_place         = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], Australia
| party               = [[Nationalist Party (Australia)|Nationalist Party]]<br/>[[United Australia Party]]
| spouse              = Ada Brees
| children            = Hugh Carlyle Foster<br />Frederick Brees Foster
| profession          = Builder, politician
}}
'''William Frederick Foster''' (29 August 1865 &ndash; 21 July 1936) was an Australian building contractor, businessman, politician and member of the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly]].
== Early life ==
William Foster was born in [[Brisbane]] to builder William Foster and Rebecca, ''née'' Harwood, who were [[English people|English]] [[Immigration to Australia|migrants]].<ref name="nsw" />
The family initially moved to [[Melbourne]], where William was educated at a public school.<ref name=":8" /> They then relocated to [[Sydney]] while William was a teenager.
== Building career ==
Foster started life as a carpenter in 1882, and he held various jobs with building-related companies, eventually becoming a partner in a successful construction business with his father and brother in 1883. In 1891, he established his own firm in the building industry, ''W. F. Foster and Co''.<ref name="nsw" /><ref name=":8">{{cite news |date=22 July 1936 |title=Sudden Collapse Of Member |page=1 |newspaper=[[Labor Daily]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237732483 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He served as an executive member on numerous boards and committees. He was a member of the Master Builders' Association of New South Wales from 1914 to 1921, serving as vice-president in 1916-17 and president in 1918.
He was the sole examiner in carpentry and joinery for the [[Sydney Technical College]] (which later became [[TAFE NSW]]) in 1917.<ref name=":6">{{cite news |date=22 July 1936 |title=Mr Foster's Career |page=13 |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17254108 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
In 1925, Foster's timber and joinery works in [[Redfern, New South Wales|Redfern]] were destroyed by fire.<ref>{{cite news |date=13 April 1925 |title=Mayor's Timber Yards Destroyed |page=17 |newspaper=[[The Herald (Melbourne)|The Herald]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243769767 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
== Political career ==
Following a successful career as a builder, Foster entered politics in 1920 at the age of 55. By this time he had built a reputation as a well-known builder and contractor.<ref name=":6" />
From 1920 to 1936 he served on [[Municipality of Woollahra|Woollahra Council]], and was mayor from 1923 to 1925. During his term as mayor, he launched improvements that made Woollahra one of the most up-to-date municipalities in metropolitan Sydney.<ref name=":7" />
He first entered New South Wales Parliament in 1925 when he was elected to the [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly]] as a [[Nationalist Party of Australia|Nationalist]] member for [[Electoral district of Eastern Suburbs (New South Wales)|Eastern Suburbs]]. Following the re-introduction of single-member districts in 1927, he represented [[Electoral district of Vaucluse|Vaucluse]] as a member of the [[United Australia Party]].<ref name="nsw" /><ref name=":8" />
Foster served as an executive member of the [[Australian Federation of Employers and Industries|Employers' Federation]], two Wages boards, the Soldiers Vocational Training committee, the Soldiers Settlement committee, the Technological Museum Advisory committee, and the Building Trades Rehabilitation committee.
=== Political views ===
Describing himself as an 'anti-socialist', Foster was a critic of [[Socialism in Australia|socialism]] and a staunch defender of [[Private sector|private enterprise]].<ref>{{cite Hansard|title=Transport Bill|jurisdiction=New South Wales|house=[[New South Wales Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]|date=23 February 1930|url=|speaker=William Frederick Foster|position=Member for Vaucluse|part=|page=3196}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> He viewed [[Adam Smith]] as the greatest economist the world had ever seen.<ref>{{cite Hansard|title=Industrial Arbitration|jurisdiction=New South Wales|house=[[New South Wales Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]|date=12 October 1932|url=|speaker=William Frederick Foster|position=Member for Vaucluse|part=|page=1010}}</ref>
He was also an advocate of housing reform, and as chairman of various committees had frequently reported to the government in that capacity.<ref name=":6" />
=== Transport policy ===
Foster strongly opposed [[Michael Bruxner]]'s ''Transport Act of 1930'', which regulated private bus services in order to protect the failing government-owned tramways and railways.<ref name=":1" /> The bill intended to prevent busses in Sydney from competing with trams by barring them from running alongside public tramways. According to the government, competition from busses in Sydney would "spoil a great public asset" by taking revenue away from the trams.<ref name=":5">{{cite news |date=23 September 1925 |title=Traffic Problems |page=4 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245244098 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Foster's opinion was that it would be more sensible to leave transport to private enterprise,<ref name=":3">{{cite news |date=26 February 1930 |title=Nationalist Secrets And Transport Bill: Foster Hits Out |page=10 |newspaper=[[The Evening News (Sydney)|The Evening News]] |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/125970943 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> and that the government's proposal to eliminate competition from private busses was "socialistic".<ref name=":0">{{cite Hansard|title=Transport Bill|jurisdiction=New South Wales|house=[[New South Wales Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]|date=23 February 1930|url=|speaker=William Frederick Foster|position=Member for Vaucluse|part=|page=3204}}</ref> He said the policy was unfair to bus drivers and conductors in the city, whose "only crime was that they were giving service to the public and earning an honest living".<ref>{{cite news |date=24 November 1931 |title=Transport Act |page=10 |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/16830526 |accessdate=18 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He called attention to the growing congestion on the government-owned tramways and noted that Sydney's public transportation system was failing to cope despite costing millions of pounds.<ref name=":5" /> At the time, annual losses from the [[Rail transport in New South Wales|New South Wales railways]] amounted to approximately £2,000,000.<ref name=":3" /> The railway lines were isolated, expensive, inadequate, and were described by the [[Cowra Guardian]] as "the outcome of a centralised government attempting more than is possible".<ref>{{cite news |date=10 November 1922 |title=Transport Problems |page=4 |newspaper=[[Cowra Guardian|Canowindra Star and Eugowra News]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article99690799 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> Foster remarked that it took 25 years of agitation to get the [[New South Wales Government Railways|government rail transport agency]] to put down the half-mile of line from [[Bondi, New South Wales|Bondi]] to [[North Bondi]], and that his constituents in Woollahara had been asking in vain for 25 years for a line connecting them with the central station. He said that private sector bus operators, meanwhile, had stepped up to provide Woollahara the route they wanted, and that they were successful in doing so because busses were less expensive to operate.
Foster pointed to [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] managing director [[Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield|Lord Ashfield]] as "the greatest authority in the world on metropolitan transport" and often quoted from Ashfield's reports in parliamentary debates, which he said show that "the bus is nearly five times more effective on capital expenditure than trams, and about six and a half times more than the underground."<ref name=":4" /> In Foster's view, busses were capable of coping with the whole of the Sydney's transport if not for the state's intervention.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 February 1930 |title=Nationalist Flays His Own Party |page=5 |newspaper=[[Labor Daily]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237013420 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Foster travelled abroad and studied the transport systems in many different countries. He said that taxis had completely revolutionised transport in [[Paris]], and that successful transit services in [[London]] were being provided to the city by private enterprise.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 February 1930 |title=Transport Bill Attacked |page=9 |newspaper=[[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]] |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226026847 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> He noticed that tramways outside [[Manchester]] were being torn up and replaced with asphalt roads.<ref name=":4">{{cite news |date=26 February 1930 |title=State Session: Transport Bill |page=19 |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16628652 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref> Foster viewed the public tramway system as obsolete, preferring busses and clearly defined railways.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 November 1925 |title=Alderman Foster Speaks |page=9 |newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245054934 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He was the only member to cross the bench to oppose the bill.<ref name=":1" />
=== Independence from political party ===
Foster was as a member of the [[Nationalist Party of Australia|Nationalist]] party and its [[United Australia Party]] successor, both of which are forces of the centre-right [[Coalition (Australia)|Coalition]] alliance (known today as the "Liberal–National Coalition"). However, although he was a loyal supporter of the Coalition's [[Stevens–Bruxner ministry (1935–1938)|Stevens-Bruxner government]], he frequently displayed an independence of spirit and often engaged in vigorous debate with members of his own political party.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 February 1930 |title=Nationalist Flays His Own Party |page=5 |newspaper=[[Labor Daily]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237013420 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> He was acclaimed for his vehement criticism of his party's approach to transport policy, and for [[Crossing the floor|crossing the bench]] to vote against the government on the matter.<ref name=":1" />
In response to another member of the Legislative Assembly suggesting that he should leave his party, Foster stated "I cannot leave the party, because I have no where else to go. I am in the party in order to try to purify it. I object to the steady drift towards socialism which is being manifested by the party to which I belong."<ref name=":0" />
After his death, politician [[Eric Spooner]] said that Foster exercised an independence in Parliament which commanded the respect of every member of the Legislative Assembly.<ref name=":6" />
=== Building industry advocacy ===
After leaving his position as president of the Master Builders' Association in 1918, Foster remained an active supporter of the association until his death. The Master Builders' Association passed a resolution to encourage its members to support his 1925 election to Parliament.<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Elder |first=John |date=2007 |title=The History of the Master Builders Association of NSW: The First Hundred Years |url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/1936 |journal=[[University of Sydney]]}}</ref>
Using his position as a member of the Legislative Assembly, he assisted the association by arranging meetings with ministers and senior parliamentary members, and by making speeches in Parliament in support of the building industry.  Foster was assisted by [[Thomas Henley (Australian politician)|Thomas Henley]] and the Master Builders' Association to prepare a response to the Industrial Arbitration Bill of 1925.
Amid the growth in popularity of [[Apartment|flats]] in the 1920s, some Sydney councils proposed bans or restrictions on their development, arguing that the new multi-story buildings were obstructing views from existing neighbouring homes. Foster objected to a total prohibition, instead suggesting that the Institute of Architects and Master Builders' Association should each nominate a technical representative to advise councils, in an honorary capacity, on flat design.<ref>{{Cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Thompson |first=Ruth |date=1986 |title=Sydney's flats: a social and political history
|url=https://www.researchonline.mq.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/mq:9384?f0=sm_creator%3A%22Thompson%2C+Ruth%22 |journal=[[Macquarie University]]}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
He married Ada Brees in 1893, with whom he had two sons.<ref name="nsw" /> Ada was interested in charity and social reform, and was associated with the appeal for funding of the [[Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney)|Eastern Suburbs Hospital]] in [[Queens Park, New South Wales|Queens Park]], of which William Foster was later elected chairman.<ref>{{cite news |date=11 August 1934 |title=Mrs. W. F. Foster. |page=19 |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17096362 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{cite news |date=22 July 1936 |title=Late W. F. Foster: He Served Public Life |page=15 |newspaper=[[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230296015 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Foster was a member of the Bourke Street Wesleyan Debating Society and vice president of the Centenary Hall Debating Society.<ref name="nsw" />
His son, Hugh Carlyle Foster, also became [[List of mayors of Woollahra|mayor of Woollahra]] in 1955.
== Death ==
On 21 July 1936, Foster died on the floor of the Legislative Assembly while he was criticising his own party's handling of metropolitan transport. In the midst of concluding a declamatory speech he suddenly stopped, lost the thread of his argument, became incoherent, collapsed on to his table, and died moments later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Aitkin |first=Don |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/115109 |title=The Colonel: A Political Biography of Sir Michael Bruxner |publisher=Australian National University Press |year=1965 |isbn=9780708100288 |pages= |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite news |date=22 July 1936 |title="I Won't Be Able To Finish" |page=16 |newspaper=[[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article230296096 |accessdate=15 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
Although it was clear that he was in physical pain in the moments leading up to his speech, Foster felt so intensely about the issue that he felt it his duty to continue. He had a glass of [[brandy]] placed to the table beside him and occasionally took sips from it to give himself the strength to continue.<ref>{{cite news |date=22 July 1936 |title=M.P. Drops Dead In NSW Assembly |page=8 |newspaper=[[The Examiner (Tasmania)|The Examiner]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52090714 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref><ref name=":8" />
{{Quote frame
| quote = I have been in this House for five Parliaments, and, at the moment, I am in great pain, suffering intensely, but I deem it my duty to speak upon this subject as long as my strength permits, until I present the facts. For 12 months I have been promised that this motion would be heard, but I have been sidestepped by those higher than me; those in authority in the Government.
| author = William Frederick Foster
| source = moments before his death
}}
He had been speaking for 34 minutes when he collapsed at 11.22 pm. Immediately following his collapse, Acting-Premier [[Michael Bruxner]] rushed to his side while other members jumped to their feet in shock. Within a minute, politician and medical doctor [[James Webb (Australian politician)|James Webb]] attempted to render aid, but was unable to revive him.<ref name=":8" /> The house was then adjourned until the following week.
The event was observed as one of the most sensational and tragic scenes ever witnessed in the Parliament of New South Wales.<ref name=":8" /> According to [[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]], Foster was the only person to drop dead in the chamber.<ref name=":2" />
He was buried at [[Waverley Cemetery]].<ref name="nsw">{{Cite NSW Parliament |name=Mr William Frederick Foster (1865–1936) |former=Yes |access-date=5 May 2019 |id=1155}}</ref> On July 23, members of Parliament left [[Parliament House, Sydney|Parliament House]] to attend his funeral. The manager of a private taxi business offered dozens of taxi-cabs free of charge for his funeral procession as a mark of respect for Foster being "always prepared to take up with the government any just and reasonable claim put forward".<ref>{{cite news |date=23 July 1936 |title=Mr. W. F. Foster. Funeral Arrangements. |page=10 |newspaper=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17254414 |accessdate=17 September 2022 |via=Trove}}</ref>
== Legacy ==
Foster Park and Foster Avenue, both in [[Double Bay]], were posthumously named after Foster in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foster Park |url=https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/recreation/parks,_reserves_and_playgrounds/list_of_parks_and_playgrounds/parks_and_playgrounds/foster_park |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au |publisher=Woollahra Municipal Council |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Local history fast facts - F |url=https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/library/local_history/local_history_fast_facts/f |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au |publisher=Woollahra Municipal Council |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
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{{s-par|au-nsw-la}}
{{succession box | title=Member for [[Electoral district of Eastern Suburbs (New South Wales)|Eastern Suburbs]] | before=[[Cyril Fallon]] <br> [[Hyman Goldstein (politician)|Hyman Goldstein]] <br> [[Charles Oakes]] | after=Seat abolished | alongside=[[Septimus Alldis|Alldis]], [[Harold Jaques|Jaques]], [[Bob O'Halloran|O'Halloran]], [[Millicent Preston-Stanley|Preston-Stanley]] | years=1925&ndash;1927}}
{{succession box | title=Member for [[Electoral district of Vaucluse|Vaucluse]] | before=New seat | after=[[Murray Robson]] | years=1927&ndash;1936}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, William}}
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales]]
[[Category:United Australia Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales]]
[[Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Mayors of places in New South Wales]]
[[Category:New South Wales local councillors]]
[[Category:Mayors of Woollahra]]
[[Category:Colony of Queensland people]]