He lived in Queensland for a period and later moved to South Australia, where he worked at stone quarries and as a builder in Mount Barker.

He secured a number of public works contracts, building wharves, railways and port facilities, and also had a farming property near Lake Alexandrina.

He first stood for parliament at the 1904 Western Australian state election, unsuccessfully contesting the Legislative Assembly seat of Yilgarn.

Upon taking his seat in parliament he joined the opposition crossbench, to the annoyance of Forrest who continued as a minister in Alfred Deakin's Protectionist Party government.

[5] Hedges sought re-election to parliament on three occasions after losing his seat, standing in the interests of the Nationalist Party.