Digby Frank Denham

Digby Frank Denham was the youngest sibling of my great-grandmother Camilla Denham. He was born on 25th January 1859 in Langport, Somerset, England, and following his education at Langport Grammar School, he was indentured to a drapery firm.

In 1881, he followed his two elder brothers Henry and Edward to Australia. Migrating to South Australia, he formed a business partnership in Mallala with a commercial traveller by the name of George Cable Knight. Knight's sister, Alice Maud, became his wife in North Adelaide on 16th April 1884. The union produced a son and two daughters, and the son, Harold, won a Rhodes Scholarship in 1911.

The dissolution of this partnership occurred in 1885, when Digby joined one of his brothers in Sydney. As a partner in a business there, he opened a Brisbane office of the business in 1886. The brothers bought the business in 1890 and changed its name to Denham Bros, produce and grain merchants. Digby also opened offices in Warwick, Clifton and Rockhampton, and in partnership with John Reid, opened a butter factory at Warwick and a cheese factory at Yangan. By the early 1900s, he was chairman of directors of the New Swanbank Colliery Co, and a leading businessman in Brisbane.

Digby made his way into politics by way of local government, serving as a member of the Stephens Divisional Board for nine years from 1893. In 1902 he was elected as Member of the Legislative Assembly for Oxley, and held a variety of ministerial appointments through the vacillating factional scene that was Queensland politics in the first decade of the twentieth century. He became premier in February 1911, and remained in that role until his government was defeated in May 1915, when he lost his own seat.

Digby's premiership was marked by major strikes, one in the sugar industry and one in the tramway company. The latter was put down particularly harshly by the Denham government, after a request to the Federal government for troops to assist in controlling the workers was denied by Labour Prime Minister Fisher. The negative reaction to these tactics led to the strengthening of the Labour Party under TJ Ryan. Digby also showed little foresight with regard to environmental matters. Asked to consider creating a national park on the Lamington Plateau (now the Lamington National Park), he believed that such a concept would fail owing to the density of the rainforest, and advocated opening the area to close settlement.

Digby Denham refused a knighthood in 1913, and also declined all invitations to return to politics, preferring to pursue business which was always his primary interest. He established a branch of Denham Bros at Maryborough, and became a director of the AMP Society, Queensland Trustees Ltd, and Walkers Ltd (Maryborough).

After arrival in Brisbane, Digby left the Anglican faith and became a Baptist. He was a deacon at the City Tabernacle, where his daughter Winifred donated the pulpit in memory of him and his wife. He had a strong interest in higher education, supporting the establishment of the University of Queensland and of its Women's College.

Digby Denham died at Annerley, Brisbane on 10th May 1944, survived by his wife and family, who declined a state funeral for him. His estate was valued for probate at 44,085 pounds.

MAJOR SOURCES:
Ross Fitzgerald, "From the Dreaming to 1915: a History of Queensland", St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1982.
"Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 8, 1891-1939", general editors Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981.