[1] Initially working as a carpenter, engineer and produce merchant, Randell founded the Perth to Fremantle paddle steamer service in 1860.

In 1876, he campaigned successfully for the establishment of a state high school in Perth, but failed to prevent the construction of the Perth-Fremantle railway which created competition for his paddle steamer service.

[2] He returned to Perth two years later, and on 5 July 1880 was appointed to a nominative seat on the Legislative Council by the Governor, and also became a member of the Central Board of Education.

In this he was supported by other abolitionists such as his stepson Walter James, by now a prominent lawyer, and former Fremantle mayor Barrington Wood, and opposed by Catholic MLAs Thomas Molloy, Timothy Quinlan and Alfred Canning.

[9] This failed when the Chairman of Committees, William Traylen, used his casting vote to break the tie and the status quo was maintained, but the secularists then moved their own motion in October calling for an end to the grant.

Forrest and his attorney-general, Septimus Burt, gave an undertaking in the debate that state aid would be terminated, and Leake dropped the motion.

However, Randell was unhappy with the tactics used, and resigned the leadership to Leake, and ultimately joined the Forrest party along with other erstwhile opponents.

[6][9] Randell did not contest Perth at the 1897 elections, but on 28 May 1897 he won a Metropolitan Province seat in the Legislative Council at a by-election, which he was to hold for 13 years.

During this time he initiated the Claremont Teachers College, the first in Western Australia, which opened in 1902 with Oxford graduate Cecil Andrews as principal.

In 1901, the opposition to the Forrest government won office in the Legislative Assembly, and Randell's ministerial role ceased—however, he was appointed as chairman of the Perth Hospital Board, and later became a trustee under the 1904 Act which ultimately established the University of Western Australia in 1911.

On 27 May 1910, aged nearly 80 and thrice widowed after the death of his wife Lucy in 1897, he retired from public life, but continued his involvement with the Congregational church.