Thomas Joseph Byrnes
1860 — September 1898
Thomas Joseph Byrnes (7‑47‑5)
Byrnes was born in Brisbane in 1860 the son of Patrick Byrnes and Anna Tighe from Sligo. The family had settled first in Bowen. Byrnes was educated at Brisbane Grammar and Melbourne University. Byrnes taught at Xavier College, Kew, Melbourne from 1882‑83 before being admitted to the Victoria Bar in 1884. He established a legal firm in Brisbane 1885 and became a Supreme Court barrister in due course.
He entered politics as an MLC and served as Attorney‑General in 1893 and MLA from 1893‑98. Byrnes was the Colonial Prime Minister (Premier) of Queensland in 1898 but his promising life was cut short at the early age of 38 in September 1898. His State Funeral was attended by all the government and was one of the largest Brisbane had ever seen. His funeral was officiated by Archbishop Dunne and to his memory are memorials in Centennial Park, Brisbane and in the main street of Warwick, his electorate.
Thomas Joseph Byrnes Memorial, Centenary Place, Brisbane, 2020 — Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
