The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Palmer, Colonel the Hon. Sir Arthur Hunter
Palmer, Colonel the Hon. Sir Arthur Hunter, K.C.M.G., M.L.C., J.P., second son of the late Lieut. Arthur Palmer, R.N., by Emily, daughter of Robt. Hunter, of Dublin and Downpatrick, was born at Armagh, Ireland, in 1819. He emigrated to New South Wales in 1838, and for twenty-three years was connected with Mr. H. Dangar's stations, of which he was ultimately general manager. In 1866 Mr. Palmer was returned to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Port Curtis, becoming Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Works in the Mackenzie Government in August 1867. In September he took the additional portfolio of Secretary for Lands, and retired, with his colleagues, in Nov. 1868. In May 1870 he formed an Administration of which, in addition to the premiership, he was Colonial Secretary, and for the last year of its existence acted as Secretary for Lands. He resigned in Jan. 1874, and, leaving Port Curtis, for which he had sat for thirteen years, was elected for Brisbane. He was Colonial Secretary and Secretary for Public Instruction in the first McIlwraith Administration, from Jan. 1879 to Dec. 1881, when he was appointed President of the Legislative Council, a position he still holds. In the same year he was created K.C.M.G. He has on several occasions administered the government of Queensland during the absence of or in the case of a vacancy in the office of Governor, on each occasion for a longer period than is usual in such interim tenures in the self-governing colonies. Sir Arthur married, in 1865, Cecilia Jessie, daughter of the late Archibald Mossman, of Armidale, N.S.W., and sister of Lady McIlwraith. He is an honorary colonel in the Queensland Defence Force, a Trustee of the Queensland Museum, and a Director of the Queensland National Bank.