[12] He got his first job as a junior reporter, printer's devil, compositor and office boy for the Norwood Free Press, a small newspaper in suburban Adelaide.

This ended when the Norwood Free Press collapsed, leading Colebatch to work for a series of short-lived newspapers in the South Australian goldfields,[13] including the Petersburg Times.

Several of the leaders were convicted, and Colebatch wrote that "I like to think that my notes were instrumental in securing either acquittal or light sentences for the lesser offenders ...

The telegraph office was closed by that time, and so the Kalgoorlie Miner on 23 September 1898 had printed the details of the supposed fist fight on its front page.

[44][46] Colebatch oversaw the sealing of Northam's roads for the first time as well as the development of the Avon River with weirs and embankments to enhance the surroundings and prevent flooding, an initiative started by Bernard.

[44] He first ran for parliament in 1910, contesting the East Province of the Legislative Council in a by-election on 26 September resulting from the death of George Throssell.

[57][58] Colebatch was initially not going to contest the May 1912 Legislative Council election, but Marwick had become unpopular in Northam due to his opinion on the proposed route for the transcontinental railway line.

Colebatch opposed having equally-populated constituencies, saying that "it seems to be utterly unfair that huge districts with great interests and scattered population should be put in the same position as closely congested and settled communities".

Colebatch attacked the government for introducing the bill so late in the session, just before the 1914 election, without the presentation of estimates, and for only one third of the money raised going to the farmers.

[88] The Liberal Party's Frank Wilson became premier, and although he had only been in parliament for four years, Colebatch was an obvious choice to join the ministry and lead the government in the Legislative Council.

[97][98] Meanwhile, both of Colebatch's sons enlisted in the army and in 1917, they went to fight in France in World War I. Gordon was severely injured by a shell blast and suffered the effects of this for the rest of his life.

[111] The 1917 state election occurred soon after the Lefroy Ministry was appointed, and after that, parliament only resumed for a week before it was adjourned for the 1917 Australian conscription referendum campaign.

With the ship approaching Fremantle, Colebatch set up an emergency isolation camp on Garden Island to supplement the existing quarantine facility at Woodman Point.

During that time, the Spanish flu broke out in South Australia and Victoria,[120] however these states refused to follow the agreement and did not declare an infected area.

a definite assurance that no further trains will be seized, and that those detailed will be restored, I will order the complete suspension of the railway service between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta without further delay.

Western Australia had a shortage of many essential goods such as medical supplies and food as a result of the earlier shipping strike and the need to quarantine.

[125] Colebatch implored Watt to try and settle the dispute, as industrial relations were the responsibility of the federal government and the state had little power to do anything other than to use police to diffuse violence.

University of New South Wales Professor of History Francis Keble Crowley said that "the premier came close to being assassinated when masonry hit the deck of his launch.

Hughes wanted to enlarge the powers of the Commonwealth Government, which Colebatch was opposed to, as he believed local self-governance improved economic efficiency and individual freedom.

[150] Gordon was friends with high ranking officials in the British Embassy in Rome, through which he secured a private meeting between Colebatch and Benito Mussolini at Chigi Palace.

[161] The industry was agitating for subsidies but Colebatch was ideologically opposed to this, so he instead introduced an amendment to a bill so that the government would have to pay market price for gold.

[165] Otto Niemeyer, a British banker who had worked for HM Treasury and the Bank of England, visited Australia in 1930 to give the prime minister and premiers advice on the Great Depression.

As a result, all Coalition members were present for the vote of no confidence, and they, combined with Lang Labor, were able to force an early election in which the Scullin government was defeated.

[citation needed] The 1933 state election occurred on the same day, in which the Mitchell government was defeated by the anti-secessionist Labor party, led by Phillip Collier.

[182][183] Colebatch knew the chance of being successful was low but saw the situation as a useful bargaining chip in negotiations with the federal government as well as way to generate publicity for the state's grievances.

[182] J. H. Thomas, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, told Colebatch that the British Government had no intention on allowing secession but it would nevertheless receive the delegation courteously.

[184] When Watson suggested armed rebellion if the petition was rejected, Colebatch issued a statement distancing the Western Australian government from these comments.

Brian De Garis wrote that "he could take satisfaction in the good record of Western Australia in this respect, for it raised more per head in War Savings Certificates than the wealthier and more populous states."

[204] Among the things he opposed was legislation designed to prevent foreigners from growing potatoes,[205] and a bill to amend the Parliamentary Allowances Act to increase the retirement payments for MPs.

Despite the state election occurring on the following day, the pallbearers included Premier Ross McLarty, Chief Secretary Victor Doney, Speaker Charles North, Deputy Opposition Leader John Tonkin, President of the Legislative Council Harold Seddon, Clerk of the Legislative Assembly F. E. Islip, Lord Mayor of Perth Joseph Totterdell, Frank Gibson, George Lowe Sutton, William Pickering and Sydney Stubbs.