The Tribune

DR COLIN HUGHES, the youngest and last of the original partners of the law firm, McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, died in Australia on June 30 at the age of 87.

Dr Hughes was born in The Bahamas on May 4, 1930 when his Welsh father, John Anfield Hughes was the administrator of schools.

During Mr Hughes’ career in The Bahamas he was posted to several of the Out Islands as Out Island Commissioner. Dr Hughes’ parents made The Bahamas their home.

Dr Hughes received his BA and MA degrees from Colombia University and later his PhD from the London School of Economics. An academic, Dr Hughes specialised in electoral politics and government.

As a result of the Australian connections that he made in London, he left The Bahamas after practising as a barrister in the law firm of McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes for a number of years and in May, 1956 joined the staff of the University of Queensland.

He eventually moved back to The Bahamas, but left again to take up an academic position in Canberra.

There was a time in his career when he toyed with the idea of running in a bye-election in The Bahamas.

While his parents were alive he moved between The Bahamas and Australia, finally settling in Australia where he was a Fellow in Political Science at the Australian National University.

Later, he was Professor of Political Science and Western Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Queensland.

Dr Hughes was the first Australian Electoral Commissioner at the Australian Electoral Commission from 1984 to 1989. In 1981 he wrote a book on “Race and Politics” in The Bahamas.