Premier of Western Australia
Which position did James Mitchell (Australian politician) hold between Aug 1919 and Feb 1920?
James Mitchell ( Australian politician ) Sir James Mitchell , ( 27 April 1866 – 26 July 1951 ) was an Australian politician . He was the 13th Premier of Western Australia , serving on two occasions , the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years , and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia from 1948 to 1951 . Early life and family . Mitchell , the eldest of thirteen children , was educated at Bunbury , Western Australia and in 1885 joined the Western Australian Bank . He later was a farmer . Mitchell married Clara Robinson Spencer , daughter of future MP William Spencer in 1888 . They were married for 61 years until Claras death in October 1949 . Political career . In 1906 , the state premier Newton Moore made Mitchell an honorary minister for agricultural expansion . In 1909 he was promoted , being given the portfolios of lands and agriculture . He recruited William Lowrie as director of agriculture . On 17 May 1919 , Premier Hal Colebatch resigned and Mitchell succeeded to the position . Mitchell won the 1921 election and remained premier until 1924 . During this period he garnered much publicity for his strong support for the Soldier-Settlement Scheme in the south-west of Western Australia . As a result of his enthusiastic promotion of this scheme ( which ultimately proved very costly in terms of money and resources ) he was dubbed Moo-Cow Mitchell by the local press . Nonetheless the establishment of a dairy industry in Western Australia can be largely credited to him . He also proved adept at dealing with the divisions between the Nationalist Party and the Country Party . Mitchells election to a second term in office coincided with the onset of the Great Depression . His government was defeated at the 1933 state elections , in addition to which he became the first Western Australian premier to lose both a state election and his parliamentary seat ( of Northam ) . As a result of financial difficulties during the Great Depression , Tasmania had appointed a lieutenant governor in the 1930s . With the approval of the major political parties , in July 1933 Mitchell was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia . This meant that , although he resided in Government House , Perth , and was governor in all but name , he drew no salary , thus making a reduced demand on the public purse at a time when ordinary people were under severe restraint . He held the position until he was finally appointed Governor of Western Australia in 1948 . Mitchell was the first Australian-born Governor of Western Australia ; he remains the only person to have served as both premier and governor of the state . He retired from the post in June 1951 . One month later he died in his railway coach during an overnight stop at Glen Mervyn siding , about from Donnybrook , Western Australia , while on a tour of the southwest of the state . He was 85 . Legacy . The Mitchell Freeway was named in his honour , as was Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth and Sir James Mitchell National Park . The botanist Charles Gardner named the rapier featherflower , Verticordia mitchelliana in his honour . External links . - G . C . Bolton , Mitchell , Sir James ( 1866 - 1951 ) , Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 10 , MUP , 1986 , pp 530–532 .