Henry Bromilow Harrison (1878-1948), Thomas Givens (detail), 1925, Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection. View full image

President, 9 July 1913 to 30 July 1914; 8 October 1914 to 30 June 1926
Australian Labor Party, 1904 to 1916;
National Labour, 1916 to 1917;
Nationalist Party, 1917 to 1928

Born in Tipperary in Ireland in 1864, Thomas Givens (1864-1928) immigrated to Queensland in 1882. He briefly worked on sugar plantations and then as an itinerant bush worker before spending 16 years on the goldfields in and around Charters Towers. Joining the growing labour movement, he was a foundation member of the Queensland Miners’ Union and became an organiser for the Australian Workers’ Union in 1893.

Givens settled in Cairns in 1897 where he founded a labour broadsheet, the Cairns Advocate (later the Trinity Times). After two unsuccessful attempts he secured a seat in the Queensland Legislative Assembly (1899-1902).¹

Elected to the Senate in 1903, Givens quickly developed an interest in parliamentary procedure, closely studying the standing orders. He served as Temporary Chair of Committees from 1910 and was unanimously elected President in 1913, promising to carry out his duties ‘fairly, honourably, and impartially’.² During his 13 years in office, Givens was a ‘staunch defender of the rights of the Senate’ and applied his considerable knowledge of the standing orders to his presidential rulings.³

Many of Givens’s rulings are still influential today, including practices relating to the Senate’s ability to introduce tax legislation, the ban on eating or smoking in the chamber and what constitutes an ‘absolute majority’ of the Senate.⁴ He also ruled that senators asked to explain disorderly conduct were not to repeat the offence and barred visitors in the Senate galleries from interrupting proceedings.⁵ As President, he chaired the Standing Orders Committee whose recommendation for a time limit on speeches was adopted by the Senate in 1919.⁶

Largely self-educated, Givens was widely read and known for his clear intellect and strong convictions.⁷ Influential in the ALP Caucus, he became the first federal president of the ALP when the Federal Executive formed in 1915. However, the following year he spoke from the Senate President’s Chair in support of conscription in what Senator George Pearce considered ‘the finest speech ever delivered in the Senate’.⁸ The issue deeply divided the ALP and after the 1916 conscription referendum was lost, Givens quit the party and joined Prime Minister Billy Hughes’s newly-formed Nationalist Party.⁹

Givens remained as President of the Senate until 1926. At the request of senators, he resumed wearing the wig and gown, a practice his predecessor, President Turley, had discontinued in 1910.¹⁰ Faced with failing health, he decided not to stand for re-election as President in 1926. Givens died two years later, still a senator for Queensland and was survived by his wife Katie and their six children.¹¹

Henry Bromilow Harrison
Painter and cartoonist Henry Harrison (1878-1948), also known as Harry Harrison, was born in Geelong, Victoria, and moved to Brisbane as a young man. He studied at the South Brisbane Technical College before working as a cartoonist for the Queenslander, the Brisbane Courier, and the Observer. He also regularly exhibited with the Queensland Art Society before moving to Melbourne in 1912 where he became the Argus’s art critic, a position he held for 31 years. Harrison was a finalist in the Wynne Prize in 1933 and was a regular finalist in the Archibald Prize. His work was also exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. He was also a foundation member of the Australian Art Association. His work is represented in major state galleries across Australia.¹²

Thomas Givens
by Henry Bromilow Harrison
1925
Oil on canvas
75 x 59.4 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collection

References
1. Unless otherwise noted, information is sourced from A Millar, ‘Givens, Henry Thomas (1864–1928)’, The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate Online Edition, Department of the Senate, Parliament of Australia, published first in hardcopy 2000; DJ Murphy, ‘Givens, Thomas (1864–1928)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983; Parliamentary Library, ‘Givens, the Hon. Henry Thomas’, Parliamentary Handbook Online. Websites accessed 7 June 2021.
2. T Givens, ‘Election of the President’, Senate, Debates, 9 July 1913, p. 6.
3. M Reid, ‘Death of Senator Thomas Givens’, Senate, Debates, 29 August 1928, pp. 6174–75; JV Macdonald, ‘Death of Senator Thomas Givens’, ibid., p. 6175; Millar, op. cit.
4. Millar, ibid.
5. T Givens, ‘Supply Bill (No. 1) 1921–1922’, Senate, Debates, 29 June 1921, p. 9461; T Givens, ‘Conciliation and Arbitration Bill (No. 2): Second reading’, Senate, Debates, 2 December 1914, p. 1237.
6. Senate Standing Orders Committee, ‘Time Limit to Speeches’, Second Report, Session 1917–19, No. 893, 7 August 1919, p. 2.
7. Reid, op. cit.; G Pearce, ‘Death of Senator Thomas Givens’, Senate, Debates, 29 August 1928, p. 6173; Millar, op. cit.
8. Pearce, op. cit.
9. 36 B Webb, ‘Billy Hughes and the 1916 Labor Party conscription split’, Independent Australia, 25 October 2010, accessed 31 July 2021; Millar, op. cit.
10. T Givens, ‘President’s Official Dress’, Senate, Debates, 13 April 1921, p. 7349.
11. Millar, op. cit.; Murphy, op. cit.
12. 39 ‘Harrison, Harry (Henry Bromilow)’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 501; ‘The Studio’, The Australasian, 26 March 1927, p. 45; ‘Art Notes’, The Age, 22 March 1927, p. 9; ‘‘HB Harrison’, The Daily Mail, 6 September 1924, p. 14; ‘‘Obituary Mr HWB Harrison’, The Argus, 29 September 1948, p. 5; ‘Artists Awarded Medals’, The Herald, 29 July 1915, p. 4; ‘Australian Art’, The West Australian, 6 March 1937, p. 18; ‘Proposed Academy Attacked’, The Argus, 6 March 1937, p. 15; J Furphy, ed, ‘Henry Bromilow (Harry) Harrison’, Australian and New Zealand Art Sales Digest. Websites accessed 28 April 2021.