Former
Speakers

Duncan Gillies
1834-1903
Speaker: 1902-1903
Legislative Assembly: 1861-1868, 1870-1894, 1897-1903

Like Berry, Gillies became Speaker only at the end of his career and when his powers were declining. He was born in Scotland and arrived in Victoria in December 1852. He went immediately to the Ballarat goldfields and soon became a public figure, speaking for the miners' cause, and a member of the Mining Board. In 1861 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the seat of Ballarat West. Gillies was a fervent local member, pursuing matters important to his constituents, but the decline of his radicalism as his respect for the Constitution grew decreased his popularity amongst them.

In 1868 Gillies lost his seat in a by-election after he accepted the post of Minister for Lands in the Sladen ministry. However, he won the seat of Maryborough in 1870 and held first it, then Rodney, then Eastern Suburbs, until 1894. In those years he was Minister of Railways in the Francis Ministry (1872-74) and the Kerferd Ministry (1874-75), Minister of Lands and Agriculture in the McCulloch Ministry (1875-77), and once again Minister of Railways in the Service Ministries (1880 and 1883-86). While in opposition he was a strong opponent of Berry's proposals for reforming the Legislative Council.

In 1886 Gillies and Alfred Deakin became the leaders of the coalition which had been established in 1883, Gillies being the head of the conservative wing. Between 1886 and 1890 Gillies was the Premier, Treasurer, Minister of Railways and, for most of the period, Minister of Mines, and thus in charge of the colony's financial policy during the boom years of the 1880s. Consequently he became extremely unpopular when the boom burst and the beginnings of the depression were seen in 1890. The coalition was defeated in a motion of no confidence late in 1890 and Gillies returned to opposition.

In 1893 he went as Agent-General to London, where he spent three years.  Before his return to Melbourne he married Harriet Turquand Fillan, a widow, who followed him back to Melbourne but then returned to Johannesburg without announcing her status.

On his return to Melbourne Gillies re-entered the Legislative Assembly as the Member for Toorak. He became Speaker in 1902 and died in office one year later in his apartment at Parliament House (then the Exhibition Buildings).