The last time we provided a premier
“It will be an opportunity for me to see what that role is like — not that I’m after the role — and to use it as a chance to promote Geelong and get my head across all the other things the Premier does every day. But I can assure people that the state is in safe hands.” BORN in Twickenham, near London, in 1822, Sir Graham Berry married Harriet Blencowe about 1848 in England and they had 11 children.
Following their migration to Australia in 1852, Berry (pictured above) furthered his education in economics and politics by reading, but being a juror in a Eureka Stockade trial triggered an enjoyment of public speaking.
He spoke with a broad London accent, and was a master of heated impromptu remarks.
On his arrival in Melbourne, he set himself up in South Yarra as a general storekeeper and wine merchant.
He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly for East Melbourne in 1861 and was described by The Argus newspaper as an “extreme liberal”.
In 1866 he moved to Geelong where he started the Geelong Register, a rival to the Geelong Advertiser, but when this was not successful, he bought the latter.
Using the paper as a platform — as editor he wrote articles about himself while ignoring the activities of his rivals — he was elected for Geelong West in February 1869.
Within four years he became the colony’s 11th Premier, and also its Treasurer.
Considered a “radical” and a “liberal”, he served three terms as Premier in 1875, 1877-80 and 1880-81.
In 1877 he switched to Geelong, which he represented until February 1886.
After his wife, Harriet, died in childbirth, he continued working and soon married again, to Rebecca Evans.
Rebecca bore him another seven children.
Berry retired to St. Kilda where he died in 1904. He was given a State Funeral and was buried in Boroondara Cemetery, Kew.