Notable People of Collingwood

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Collingwood Notables Database

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William David Beazley

1854 - 1912

Councillor, MLA, estate agent, Collingwood Football Club president, protectionist

Beazley in 1899

committed to the advancement of his hometown of Collingwood, and for his involvement in a wide range of local affairs. Whether as a councillor, member of parliament, supporter of sporting groups and working men, or president of the football club, his life revolved around the local community and its concerns.

Beazley arrived in Melbourne from London in infancy with his parents William and Elizabeth, nee Parker. Living in Islington Street, he began his working life as a saddler and harness maker until in 1886 he set up an estate agency in Johnston Street in partnership with Clifton Wheat Aumont.

In August 1887 he was elected to Collingwood council and would remain a councillor until 1904, including three terms as Mayor, in 1894 - 95, and 1899 - 1901. Beazley‘s father, a painter and paperhanger who owned two timber houses in Islington Street, died in 1888. Beazley never married and he and his mother Elizabeth would share a house for their remaining lives. During his three terms as Mayor, Elizabeth filled the role usually performed by a mayor’s wife, attending social functions, superintending the town hall soup kitchen during the disastrous economic depression of the 1890s, and participating in other charitable works. Referred to as the Lady Mayoress, she was a parishioner of Gipps Street Methodist Church, and maintained an active life until shortly before her death at the age of 90 in 1911.

In 1889 Beazley expanded his political horizons when he was elected to Parliament. At first MLA for Collingwood, including a term as Speaker, he was later MLA for the seat of Abbotsford and was still the member at the time of his death. He was an ardent protectionist and supporter of Labour principles, and a well-respected parliamentarian who participated in many committee roles, especially those dealing with finance.

Beazley was a leading campaigner for the recognition of technical education and its acceptance in the community. He was also an articulate supporter of improving conditions for the working class and any movement which aimed to bring the means of recreation, education and refinement within their reach. In 1891 he spoke at a large meeting at the Collingwood Town Hall in support of the establishment of a Working Men’s Club. Beazley realised that the literary and debating clubs in the neighbourhood were not venues where most working-class men felt comfortable, and that the Working Men’s Club would provide means for the discussion of political and social matters, as well as entertainment, reading and other activities. Established in July 1891 in the former municipal chambers in Johnston Street, the Club endured well into the twentieth century.

Beazley’s other significant arena of community support was local sporting groups. These included swimming and cricket clubs, but his major interest was football, reaching its pinnacle in the Collingwood Football Club. In the late 1880s he was part of a deputation which met with the Britannia Football Club with the goal of forming a senior football club. This finally eventuated in 1892 and Beazley chaired the first meeting of the Club, held at the town hall in February 1892. It was no surprise that he was elected president, a position he retained until 1911. He expected that the club would help subdue larrikinism and promote integration and a sense of responsibility, with the extra advantage that it 'would confer a great boon on Collingwood, as the matches would be sure to draw immense crowds, and be the cause of much money being spent in the district'. The football club website includes more detail on this much-loved president (see Resources below).

Beazley and his mother lived at the Johnston Street business until he retired around 1898, at which time he allowed Aumont to continue operating the firm under the same name at 179 Johnston Street, while Beazley received commissions from Aumont when he passed any business his way. Around this time Beazley moved to Bath Street, Abbotsford.

Beazley’s early death of pneumonia at 58 was a great loss to his community and politics, but his contribution would continue. He had acquired an extensive portfolio of properties, mostly in Collingwood, as well as shares in local enterprises such as the Denton Hat Mills and the Langridge Building Society, and his estate amounted to over £10,000 net. His detailed will was made 17 June, less than two weeks before his death. After some bequests, and the disposal of personal valuables to friends and colleagues, he left the lion’s share of his estate to fund trade scholarships at Collingwood Technical School and the Working Man’s College (later RMIT). RMIT still offers these scholarships for apprentices, and the Collingwood Technical School scholarships continued to be offered for many decades. He also left £250 for a cottage to be built at the Old Colonists Homes in honour of his mother.

Beazley’s final home was ideally situated directly opposite Victoria Park where his beloved football team played so many thrilling games. The photo of 1 Bath Street taken in 2016 shows a well-preserved Victorian single-fronted house, looking very spick and span. Within a few years it had been allowed to fall into a disastrous state of disrepair, and was demolished around 2023.