The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Stephens, Hon. Thomas Blackett

1451204The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Stephens, Hon. Thomas BlackettPhilip Mennell

Stephens, Hon. Thomas Blackett, M.L.C., son of a Baptist minister, was born at Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1819, and emigrated to New South Wales in 1849, Prior to this he 'had come under the personal influence of Cobden, Bright, and Ashworth, and took an active part in the agitation of the Anti-Corn Law League. In 1855 Mr. Stephens went to Moreton Bay, and about the time when that district was separated from the mother colony became proprietor of the Brisbane Courier. In 1869 it was sold to a limited company, in which Mr. Stephens retained an interest till 1873. Mr. Stephens, who was Mayor of Brisbane in 1862, founded the Queenslander, the admirable weekly journal still published in connection with the Courier. He represented South Brisbane in the Legislative Assembly for a number of years, and was Colonial Treasurer in the second Macalister Government from May to August 1867. In Nov. 1868 he again took office as Colonial Secretary in the Lilley Ministry, but relinquished this post for that of Colonial Treasurer in Jan. 1869, resigning with his colleagues in May 1870. Mr. Stephens was Postmaster-General, as well as Treasurer, from Nov. 1869 to Jan. 1870. In the last Macalister Government he was Secretary for Lands from Jan. 1874 to May 1875. On quitting the Assembly he was nominated to the Legislative Council. Mr. Stephens died in Brisbane on August 26th, 1877.