Bernard J. Beirne Print Page

The sporting oval commemorates Bernard J. Beirne who was elected as Toowoomba`s first locally born Mayor in 1905.

Bernard Joseph Beirne was just 33 years of age when elected the first native-born Mayor of Toowoomba in 1905.

A well-known solicitor in Toowoomba, B.J. Beirne was one of the youngest alderman ever to be elected to the highest municipal position in the city. In his younger days, he was an outstanding sportsman and at one time was classed as one of Queensland’s best cricketers. He won State colours in rowing and bowls and was also a good tennis player and polo player.

Born in Seaton Street, Toowoomba in 1871, B.J. Beirne junior received his early education at the South Toowoomba State School and the Toowoomba Grammar School. In 1886 he went to Riverview College in Sydney and he matriculated from there to the University of Sydney.

He was then articled to a firm of solicitors in Brisbane and admitted to practise as a solicitor by the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1896. Mr Beirne then went to live in Rockhampton but returned to Toowoomba to establish his own firm in 1900.

In 1902, he was elected unopposed to the then South Ward of the Toowoomba Municipal Council and two years later married a daughter of Mr J.J. Booty, manager of the London Bank of Australia in Sydney.

He practiced his profession in Toowoomba until his retirement in the late 1949. Mr Beirne was 86 years of age when he died at his Campbell Street home on November 12, 1957. He was survived by his wife, four daughters and his son Rupert.
Toowoomba City Council, Past Mayors. 

Location

Details

Dedication