The Hon Sir George Warbuton Fuller

Sir George Warburton Fuller (1861-1940)

• Occupation: Barrister and politician
• Birth: 22 January 1861 at Kiama, New South Wales
• Parents: George Lawrence Fuller, storekeeper, and his wife Sarah Conyhame (Cunningham), née Miller, and brother of C. D. Fuller.
• Education: Kiama Public School, Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney (B.A., 1879; M.A. 1882).
• Advancement: After reading law with Sir William Manning, he was called to the Bar in 1884 and was crown prosecutor on some occasions. On 23 March 1892 at Woollahra he married Ada Louisa King.

Politics and business interested Fuller more than law, and he rarely practised. A Federationist, Free Trader and supporter of Sir Henry Parkes, he entered the Legislative Assembly as member for Kiama in 1889. Re-elected in 1891, he was defeated in the 1894 swing against Parkes and again in 1898 although he had won a name for intelligent conservatism, stolidity and good temper. He entered the first Commonwealth parliament as Free Trade member for Illawarra in 1901, and held the seat until narrowly defeated by G. M. Burns (Labor) in 1913. As minister for home affairs (1909-10) under Alfred Deakin, he introduced the bill to make Canberra the seat of Federal government. In 1911 he was a member of the Australian delegation to the coronation of George V.

Fuller re-entered State politics in 1915 as member for Wollondilly, following the death of F. A. Badgery. The Opposition leader, (Sir) Charles Gregory Wade, welcomed him as a pragmatic conservative and experienced former minister, likely to promote that association of rural-minded Progressives and urban-minded Liberals to which Wade was committed. Fuller quickly became deputy leader of the Liberals. Then, when W. A. Holman formed his National ministry in November 1916 and Wade left politics, Fuller became colonial secretary, second only to Holman in the cabinet, and Liberal leader.

Fuller's last years were spent in retirement at Bowral. He remained a member of the Australian Club and kept up his interest in cricket, fishing, gardening and billiards. A kindly, portly man of great courtesy, he enjoyed wide respect and popularity. He was made a councillor of St Andrew's College, University of Sydney, in 1895. Fuller, like his father, invested shrewdly in real estate. Although never a farmer, he had a good eye for rural land values, and also for company investments. He died on 22 July 1940 at Darlinghurst, and was buried with Presbyterian forms in the Anglican section of Porter's Garden Beach cemetery. His wife, a daughter and a son survived him.

References and Links:

• Australian Biography
• Wikipedia
• Parliament Of New South Wales
• Find A Grave