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William Gibson (Australian politician)

Australian politician, born 1869

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ8009854 ↗
Source-derived summary

William Gerrand Gibson (19 May 1869 – 22 May 1955) was an Australian politician. He was the first member of the Country Party elected to federal parliament, serving in the House of Representatives (1918–1929, 1931–1934) and as a Senator for Victoria (1935–1947). He was the party's deputy leader from 1923 to 1929 and was a government minister in the Bruce–Page government.

Early life

Gibson was born on 19 May 1869 in Gisborne, Victoria. His parents Grace (née Gerrand) and David Gibson were both born in Scotland, and arrived in Victoria in 1860. His younger brother David also became a member of parliament. Gibson was educated locally, and worked with his father for a period before acquiring his own farm. He married Mary Helen Young Paterson on 4 November 1896 at Riddells Creek.

As well as farming, Gibson established himself as a merchant, running general stores at Romsey and Lancefield. He was president of the Romsey and West Bourke Agricultural Society and the local branch of the Australian Natives Association.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “William Gibson (Australian politician)” is australian politician, born 1869. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through William, Gibson and Australian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1869, 1955, 1918, 1929—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1869-05-19. For this dossier, William, Gibson and Australian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “australian politician, born 1869” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8009854. VIAF identifies the subject as 537145858274723022595. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1869, 1955, 1918 and 1929.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “William Gibson (Australian politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow William Gibson (Australian politician) primary sources, William Gibson (Australian politician) archive and William research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “William Gibson (Australian politician)”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “William Gibson (Australian politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.