George Alvin Ray Leake

George Leake (1856-1902), lawyer and premier, was born on 3 December 1856 in Perth, eldest son ofGeorge Walpole Leakeand his wife Rose Ellen, née Gliddon. George attendedBishop Hale's School and the Collegiate School of St Peter, Adelaide, before being articled in his father's legal firm. In 1880 he was admitted to the Bar and partnership in the firm but in 1882 became acting crown solicitor and next year was confirmed in the post, which he retained until 1894. In 1890 Leake was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Roebourne but resigned after three weeks when he was excluded from the Forrest ministry although(Sir) John Forresthad approached him about the attorney-generalship months before, and later considered offering him the colonial secretaryship. Without a ministerial salary, Leake could not afford to give up the crown solicitorship, so he deferred his political ambitions. In 1894, however, he won Albany by one vote. His return to parliament coincided with the formation of the first organized Opposition, crystallized by controversy over state aid to education; he became an active member. When his leaderGeorge Randellfailed to press the education issue hard enough for his satisfaction, Leake moved in effect a motion of no confidence in the government's education policy. The motion was withdrawn in return for an undertaking that the government would legislate to abolish state aid. Leake had declared that he was fully prepared to turn Forrest out and form a government if he could attract enough support. This was not a realistic aspiration then, but his confrontationist style added a new dimension to Western Australian politics and was too much for Randell who crossed the floor, leaving leadership of the Opposition to the 38-year-old newcomer. The political temperature subsequently dropped and although Leake spent much of the 1896 session in England his colleagues did not replace him as leader.