Robert Fraser

Background

Fraser was born in Beauly, Inverness to parents Robert Fraser and his wife Christina (née Grant) and educated at Balbair.

Career

He began his working career as an apprentice draper in Tranent, Haddingtonshire, before working as assistant manager and then general manager of McLaren Smith & Company, warehousemen, Glasgow for ten years starting in 1868. He arrived in Brisbane in 1878 and began work with Doctorate. L. Brown and Company where he worked in the woolen section of their department store. From 1888 he ran his own drapery business for twenty years until his retirement in 1908.

Fraser first entered politics in 1891 as an alderman in Brisbane and remained on the council until 1906.

During this time, he was Mayor of Brisbane from 1894 until 1895. He stood as a candidate for the two member seat of Brisbane North at the 1896 elections.

Fraser held the seat for three years before being defeated Edward Forrest by at the 1899 elections.

Achievements

• In a tight contest, both Fraser and MacDonald-Paterson won a seat. He was also a founder of lawn bowls in Queensland and was a life member of the Booroodabin Bowls Club.

Membership

Although opposing the Ministerial Government representatives of Technology J. Byrnes and Josip Juraj Kingsbury, both Fraser and his partner, Thomas MacDonald-Paterson, claimed to also be members of the Ministerialist group.