Colin Rankin

Colin Dunlop Wilson Rankin (20 January 1869, Galston, Ayrshire, Scotland – 2 November 1940, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) was a soldier, politician, cane farmer and company director.

Early life
The second son of William Rankin, colliery manager, and his wife Jane, née Anderson, he was educated at Galston Public School and Kilmarnock Academy. Colin Rankin accompanied his family to Queensland when his father became manager of Queensland Collieries Co. Ltd. at Howard (near Maryborough) in 1884. Rankin joined its staff and from 1886 the Queensland Defence Force. By 1890 he was assistant company manager, grew sugar at Tigh-na-Bienne at Isis, Queensland (near Bundaberg, north of Howard), and became a clerk and valuator with the Isis Divisional Board (1890–1899).

Family life
He married Annabelle Davidson Thomson on 5 September 1906 at Maryborough; they settled on his plantation. They had two daughters, Annabelle (born 1908) and Jean.

The family lived in Brooklyn House in Howard (now heritage-listed).

Rankin died in a private hospital in Brisbane on 2 November 1940, survived by his wife and two daughters, and was buried with Anglican rites in Howard Cemetery.

His daughter, Annabelle, became the first woman to enter the Federal parliament from Queensland.

Boer War
A major when the South African War broke out, Rankin volunteered for service and on 13 January 1900 sailed with the Second Queensland Contingent. He was appointed second-in-command of the First Australian Regiment of Mounted Infantry and saw action at Diamond Hill, Riet Vlei and elsewhere. Invalided to England, Rankin returned to Queensland in March 1901. In 1903 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the Wide Bay Infantry Regiment, assuming command in 1906.

Public office
He had been chairman of the Howard Shire Council since its formation in 1903, and in 1905 successfully contested the seat of Burrum in the Queensland Legislative Assembly after unsuccessful attempts to gain it in 1899 and 1904.

Rankin promoted rural interests during his thirteen years in parliament. He became a council-member of the Australian Sugar Producers' Union. His membership of the Farmers' Parliamentary Union (Country Liberal Party from 1913), however, exacerbated disunity among government ranks. After unsuccessfully challenging Denham's leadership, Rankin was secretary for railways briefly in 1915, then became deputy leader of the Liberal Opposition when Labor won the May election.

World War 1
During World War I Rankin served briefly in 1915 with the Australian Imperial Force in Egypt before appointment to command the 11th Brigade in the newly formed 3rd Division, as temporary brigadier general from 1 May 1916. On Salisbury Plain in England, he was dismissed by Major General Sir John Monash as "incapable". He returned home in November, and retired with the honorary rank of colonel in February 1917.

Later life
He failed to hold Burrum in the 1918 election. Next year when his brother, William Charles Rankin, died he succeeded him as general manager of Queensland Collieries Co. Ltd.

As managing director in 1924-1940, Rankin continued a tradition of paternal despotism. He had found the company in poor shape with a falling output and inadequate coal reserves; charges have also been made of 'intense exploitation, sub-standard conditions and hard-fistedness'. He courageously took out new leases in the Burrum district and opened new mines which helped the company to weather the Depression of the 1930s.