William Oswald Hodgkinson was a sailor, explorer, journalist, newspaper proprietor, miner, goldfields warden, and politician. Born in England and educated at Birmingham School, Hodgkinson first visited Australia in 1851 as a midshipman in the mercantile marine. By 1853 he was working in the government service on the Tarnagulla and Forest Creek goldfields in Victoria, before returning to England where he worked as a war clerk.
In 1859 Hodgkinson returned to Australia to join the literary staff of The Age. In 1860 he was a dispatch rider for Burke and Wills' ill-fated expedition, and was second-in-command of McKinlay's relief party. Then he worked as editor of The Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, before establishing The News (Rockhampton), a tri-weekly paper which ran from 15 March 1865 - 9 February 1866. He then established Mackay's first newspaper, The Mackay Mercury, in April 1866.
In 1867, after selling the Mercury to Edward Wright, Hodgkinson returned to Rockhampton where he floated several mining companies. In 1870 he moved to the Etheridge goldfield where he served as mining warden and police magistrate, until elected for the Burke District to the Legislative Assembly in 1874. Resigning in 1875, he led a government expedition to explore the area between the Etheridge and Cloncurry goldfields. In 1890 he resumed his parliamentary career, and was given the portfolio of mines and public instruction.
Defeated in 1893, Hodgkinson moved to Western Australia where he worked as a mining expert, before re-locating to Sydney in 1896. In 1899 he became the first editor of The Queensland Government Mining Journal.
Sources: Australian Dictionary of Biography online http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040454b.htm; Rod Kirkpatrick. Sworn to No Master: A History of the Queensland Provincial Press to 1930 (1984).
