August, 1922 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
97 
Brisbane Conner of 1876, “lie was far from fortunate."* 
However, Coxen was obviously a liighly-respected citizen, 
.and in 1860 he was elected to the first Queensland Parlia- 
ment as member for the old Northern Downs constituency. 
In 1863 he was re-elected, and in May of that year was chosen 
lo be Chairman of Committees in the second Parliament. 
Ilis Parliamentary life ended in 1867, when he was defeated 
by the late Henry Thorn. 
Gould’s fine influence and example had not been wasted 
upon Coxen. Naturally a keen man — one sees this in the 
good features prominent in an historic picture of members 
of the first Queensland Parliament — he studied natural 
history with zeal, and in the Proceedings of the old Queens- 
land Philosophical Society are original papers which he 
presented on ornithology, geology, marsupials, and 
aboriginals. Imagine a Parliamentarian of the present day 
.attempting this! Coxen was long vice-president of that 
.society, when Sir George Bowen (first Governor) and Sir 
James Cockle (first Chief Justice) respectively, occupied 
the Presidential chair; and two other ornithologists in S. 
Higgles and H. C. Rawnsley were members of the Council. 
Coxen also attended to the bird specimens in the society 's 
museum. What became of this collection I do not know; 
indeed, the Proceedings themselves are not complete in any 
big library in Brisbane. Coxen ’s paper dealing with the 
bower-building habit of the Regent-bird, which he was first 
to chronicle, was printed, like many other such papers, in 
the old Brisbane Guardian (24tli May, 1864) and after- 
wards in the Proceedings of the Philosophical Society: it 
was reprinted extensively in Gould s Birds of Australia. 
After leaving Parliament, Coxen spent a few months at 
Gy m pie, in the early days of that goldfield, and in March of 
1868 he entered the Government service as a Crown Lands 
Commissioner. This service he continued, chiefly in the 
Moreton district, up to within a few weeks of his death, which 
•occurred at “Omega Cottage," Bulimba (Brisbane), on 17th 
May, 1876. He was then aged sixty-seven, having been born 
at Ramsgate (England), on 20th April. 1809. His talented 
wife remained, but there were no children. Coxen lies, 
* Mr. John Mackenzie, of Ipswich, an old friend of Coxen ’s. writes 
me: ‘*Poor old Charlie! — he was a fine genial fellow. He left no 
family. He was in Parliament a few years, and advocated free 
•selection before survey; that lost him his seat. There was no pay- 
ment of members in those days. I have heard him speak of his 
brother-in-law, Gould. ’ ’ One or two other old residents speak with 
appreciation of both Mr. and Mrs. Coxen, and mention that they 
frequently il roughed it ’ ’ together on natural-history hunts in 
Moreton Bay. 
