Education. By June 1909 he had relinquished these portfolios, and he was then appointed Minister for Works. For part of 1910, he was acting premier while Moore was absent in England. On 16 September 1910, Moore resigned the premiership on the grounds of ill health, and Wilson became Premier and Colonial Treasurer. His government was responsible for the legislation that established the University of Western Australia, and also initiated the Redistribution of Seats Bill 1911. In June 1911, Wilson was made CMG. Wilson held the office of premier until the general election of 7 October 1911, when his government was heavily defeated by the Labour party. He then became Leader of the Opposition until July 1916. During this time, he was chosen as a foundation member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia, and would remain a member until December 1915. He also represented Western Australia at the coronation of King George V in June 1911. Labour was returned in the election of 1914, but its majority was reduced to a margin of two seats. Over the next two years, two Labour members resigned. Labour lost both by-elections, so that by November 1916, the government had only 24 seats in a house of fifty. On 27 July 1916, the Liberal and Country parties cooperated to defeat the government in the Legislative Assembly. After being refused a dissolution of Parliament by the governor, the premier John Scaddan resigned, and Wilson became premier for the second time. Although the Country Party cooperated with the Liberals in bringing down Scaddan's Labour government, they declined to form a coalition ministry, and they were inconsistent in their support of Wilson's government. At one point in February 1917, a dispute between the parties prompted Wilson to tender his resignation, but this was refused by the governor. At the same time, federal party politics was being transformed by the "nationalist movement", a reconstruction of the party system along the lines of the conscription debate. There was some pressure on Wilson to form a Nationalist Party at the state level, and this pressure increased after Billy Hughes' Nationalist Party easily won the federal election of May 1917. Later that month, Wilson called a meeting of Liberal, Country Party and National Labor members, and a Nationalist Party was formed. However, in early June the members of the new party voted to reconstruct the ministry by caucus election.