Alfred Morgans (1850-1933) held no ministerial office other than his 32 days as Western Australian Premier in November-December 1901, was the only conservative Premier to hold a mining seat and the only Premier to be forced from office by Ministerial by-elections.
He was born in Wales, trained as a mining engineer and had wide experience as a mines manager in Central America after 1878. Morgans arrived in Western Australia in 1896 and became the managing director of the Westralia Mt Morgans Gold Mining Company. In 1897 he was elected as the member for the thriving mining town of Coolgardie and sat as a supporter of the Forrest Government. When in 1901 the Leake Government was defeated in Parliament, the former 'Forrest Party' was initially unable to agree on a nominee as Premier and Morgans was the compromise choice. The ministerial by-elections were usually a formality but these were hotly contested by Leake supporters: three of Morgans' team of six ministers were defeated. The State Governor refused his request for an early general election and he resigned as Premier on December 23 1901. Alfred Morgans sat as member for Coolgardie until the 1904 election when he retired and returned to his extensive business interests. He acted as Western Australian consul for several nations including the United States.
