Pemberton Elliott Walcott (1869 - 1950)

Born 15 Feb 1869 in Warwick, Queensland, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Katherine also as Catherine (Elliott) Walcott — married 5 Mar 1900 in Tasmania, Australia

Died 5 Mar 1950 at age 81 in Manly, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

Pemberton was his paternal great grandmother's maiden name.

He was appointed in 1884 as the first Commonwealth Public Service Inspector in Queensland at Warwick.

He passed away on 5 March 1950 in Manly, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

QLD & NSW BDM Records

Pemberton Elliott Walcott Event date: 15/02/1869 Event type: Birth registration QLD Birth Registration details: 1869/C/1483 Mother: Elizabeth Elliott Father/parent: James Perry Walcott

Marriage - Name: Pemberton Elliott Walcott Spouse Name: Mary Katherine lliott Marriage Date: 5 Mar 1900 Gender: Male Publication Date: 4 Apr 1900 Tasmania, Australia, Index to Marriage Notices in The Mercury, 1854-1962 Ancestry.co.uk

Name : WALCOTT PEMBERTON ELLIOTT NSW Death Registration Number : 4582/1950 Father's Given Name(s) : JAMES PERRY Mother's Given Name(s) : ELIZABETH District : MANLY

First Commonwealth Public Service Inspector In Queensland

The Week (Brisbane, Qld. : 1876 - 1934), Fri 10 Dec 1926, Page 29 THE FEDERAL SERVICE INSPECTOR FOR QUEENSLAND In 1884 the Queensland Government was in need of a smart boy. Ever since trade became established, and Governments and offices came into being, smart boys have been wanted. Some have proved their right to the title, and have made their first job in that humble capacity the stepping stone to a successful career. Others have failed, and have drifted into unskilled-—— But this is the story of the smart boy who secured the position at Warwick in 1884. His duty was to deliver telegrams. That was long before the day of the Murray multiplex and the Wheatstone and other telegraphic inventions—in fact, the bicycle had not been placed upon the market as an aid to telegraph messengers. Unless the boy had a pony of his own, or the Government of the day provided for one in the estimates (in which the smart boy figured at a cost to the State of about £13 a year), the telegrams of that time in the Warwick district had to be delivered per "Shanks's pony"—an animal that was greatly overworked with settlement, sparse and houses with much land between them. That the boy who secured the position in Warwick answered the description is proved by the fact that he climbed from that humble post to that of the senior officer of the Federal public service in Queensland—Commonwealth public service inspector. His name was Pemberton Elliott Walcott. STURDY STOCK. Young Walcott sprang from sturdy stock. His father, James P. Walcott, who migrated from West Australia, took up land in the Warwick district, and heard the call of adventure in earlier years, and had accompanied Gregory on some of his exploring trips. His mother (who died last year at the age of 93) was the daughter of the Rev. John Elliott, Anglican clergy- man, who came of a very old English family. He died in his hundredth year, and that his faculties were unimpaired was proved by the fact that he preached vigorous sermons until within a few months of his death. It will be granted that the young telegraph messenger was blessed with splendid parents. He filled various positions in the Queensland Postal Service until Federation was accomplished in 1901, when he changed over to the Commonwealth Public Service as senior clerk to the first Common- wealth Public Service inspector in Queensland, Mr. R.O. Bourne, and he held the position under various inspectors until he succeeded to the chief office himself in January,1913. That, briefly, is Mr. Walcott's career. Necessarily, his work is of a kind that cannot easily be described. It might almost be said that not a Commonwealth public servant in Queensland is appointed, promoted, or classified without Mr. Walcott's knowledge— often his is the recommendation that decides the matter. FIRMNESS AND FAIRNESS. Those who have to deal with him supply the missing portions of the history. They say that above all he is fair, and that his fairness does not detract from his firmness. The man most entitled to it, in his opinion, gets the job. Strictly speaking, not a temporary "hand" is appointed to the Commonwealth Public Service in Queensland without his approval. It will be granted, without any reflection on heads of departments, that without some check, staffs might be overmanned—or undermanned, for that matter. Recently he has been dealing with the immense task of superintending the reclassification of the staffs of the various Commonwealth departments in Queensland. All appeals come before him as the representative of the Public Service Board, and he reports to the board. He inspects the work, for himself, and the information gained on the spot helps him in his recommendations. He holds the scales evenly between, the department and the office, and a Commonwealth officer assumed the position up well when he said that much of Mr. Walcott's' success in his delicate duty was due to the fact that "he was known to be scrupulously fair.” THE HUMAN SIDE. That is his departmental side— marked by fairness and-firmness. But he has his human—his very human— side. Altogether, he has made about 300 appointments to New Guinea since 1921, when the Commonwealth took over the mandate for that Territory. Mostly the appointees have returned soldiers; men who "did their bit" in the years of the great service, and who were, seeking peaceful fields of endeavour. The Commonwealth Public Service Inspector it was who examined their credentials, put them through a searching interrogation, and assured himself and his Government of their fitness for the positions. But it was Mr. P. E. Walcott who went down to the boat to see them off, to wish them good fortune in their new fields, to give them friendly and valuable advice that would help them in their work, and to send them off with a friendly grip of the hand. Often, after his day's work was done at the office, he would be seen coming back at night from Pinkenba, where he and Major E. J. Dibdin, D.S.O., State secretary of the R.S.S.I.L.A., had been seeing off men bound for New Guinea. Mr. Walcott spends a few of his leisure hours motoring or golfing. But his main recreation is gardening—a colleague called it "intensive-gardening"—and at his mountain home at Tambourine he promotes, transfers, and otherwise reclassifies many units in the flower and vegetable departments. There, with his wife, his two sons, and his daughter, he is to be found at the weekends. And as the sun sinks behind Tambourine, the Commonwealth Public Service seems far away. Even if a telegraph messenger interrupts the quiet week-end by arriving with an urgent- telegram, Mr. Walcott welcomes him with a fraternal smile. Who knows? The boy may be the Commonwealth Public Service Inspector for Queensland some day!

Sources

• QLD Birth Registration details: 1869/C/1483
• NSW Death Registration Number : 4582/1950