George Edwards (Australian politician)

George Edwards
Member of the Australian Parliamentfor South Sydney
In office 29 March 1901 – 8 November 1906
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Chris Watson
Member of the Australian Parliamentfor North Sydney
In office 13 April 1910 – 4 February 1911
Preceded by	Dugald Thomson
Succeeded by	Granville Ryrie
Personal details
Born	(1855-01-30)30 January 1855 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Died	4 February 1911(1911-02-04) (aged 56) Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Free Trade (1901–06) Liberal (1909–11)
Occupation	Journalist

George Bertrand Edwards (30 January 1855 – 4 February 1911) was an Australian politician. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, where he was educated, he was a journalist in Tasmania before moving to Melbourne, where he became a businessman, later moving to Sydney. In 1901, he contested the first federal election as the Free Trade candidate for South Sydney, and won. He held the seat until his retirement in 1906. In 1910 he returned to the House of Representatives as the Liberal member for North Sydney, but he died shortly afterwards in 1911.^[1]

Edwards was an early supporter of decimalisation and metrification, and moved several motions calling on Australia to adopt the metric system and a decimal currency.^[2][3]

Death[edit]

Edwards was killed when an acetylene gasometer exploded at his property in Turramurra on 4 February 1911. A mechanic named John Graham was also killed in the explosion, which was overheard by Edwards' daughter Annie. The explosion destroyed the brick structure in which the gasometer was housed, and the victim's bodies were found some distance from the gasometer, both with severe head injuries.^[4] A coronial inquiry returned a verdict of accidental death.^[5]

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