William Stephens

William Stephens (1857–1925) was a businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia. He was a Member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly and a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council.

Early life

William Stephens was born on 7 November 1857 at South Brisbane, the eldest son of Thomas Blacket Stephens and his wife Ann (née Connah), and raised at the family home of Cumbooquepa on Vulture Street, South Brisbane. He was educated at the National Public School, then the Brisbane Grammar School.

Commencing as a merchant, he took over the family estate on the death of his father.

He married Pauline Ann Caroline Effey in March 1900, and they had three sons and three daughters: William (1909–), and Edward Harry (1916–1916); Dorothea Louise (1901–), Ann Pauline (1905–1984), and Marian Victoria (1907–).

From of land transferred to Stephens by his father in 1886, Stephens built the family residence of Waldheim, off Ipswich Road, Annerley (now 35 Waldheim Street), about 1900 at the cost of €300; 'Waldheim' being a German word for 'home in the forest'. (It is now a Brisbane City Council designated local heritage place. During this last period, he was Secretary for Public Instruction and Agriculture from 19 November 1907 to 18 February 1908.

In the 1912 election, Stephens unsuccessfully contested Buranda.

On 1 July 1912, he was appointed for life to the Queensland Legislative Council, a position he held until the Council was abolished on 23 March 1922.

His brother Thomas Connah Stephens (1868–1937) lived in the same street at Knutsford, on the corner of Waldheim and Blacket Streets. It was for the use of the Stephens Boy Scout and Tarragindi Girl Guide groups; Stephens being the locale named for Stephens' father, and Tarragindi being an adjoining suburb. It is now a private residence.

His wife Pauline died on 2 August 1960, aged 85.