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BAKHAP, Thomas Jerome Kingston (1866–1923)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1913–23 (Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

BAKHAP, Thomas Jerome Kingston (1866–1923)
Senator for Tasmania, 1913–23 (Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)

Thomas Jerome Kingston Bakhap, tin miner, was born in the Benevolent Asylum, Ballarat, Victoria, on 29 October 1866, the son of Margaret Geneva Hogan, an eighteen-year-old Irish girl residing in Smythesdale. The identity of the father does not appear on Bakhap’s birth certificate, registered in the name Kingston. Subsequent claims by his mother (whose own birthplace is cited variously as Callao, Peru, and Limerick,

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BARKER, Stephen (1846–1924)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1910–20, 1923–24 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BARKER, Stephen (1846–1924)
Senator for Victoria, 1910–20, 1923–24 (Australian Labor Party)

‘It was’, wrote the Bulletin at the time of Stephen Barker’s death, ‘the dream of his life to get into the Senate’. Barker, tailor and trade unionist, was born in 1846, in London, England, son of Stephen Barker, farmer, and his wife Hannah, née Nagle. It is likely the whole family migrated to Australia. From the age of twelve, Barker worked in Melbourne as

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BARNES, John (1868–1938)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1913–20, 1923–35 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

BARNES, John (1868–1938)
Senator for Victoria, 1913–20, 1923–35 (Australian Labor Party)

‘The story of John Barnes’, said Albert Monk, ACTU president in 1938, ‘is also the history of the Australian Labor movement’. Barnes was born on 17 July 1868 at Hamilton, near Kapunda, South Australia, son of John Thomas Barnes, a labourer from Somerset, England, and his wife Mary, née Cummeford, from County Clare, Ireland. He acquired the basic elements of a primary education and

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BLAKEY, Albert Edward Howarth (1879–1935)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1910–17 (Labor Party)</span>

BLAKEY, Albert Edward Howarth (1879–1935)
Senator for Victoria, 1910–17 (Labor Party)

Albert Edward Howarth Blakey was born on 9 November 1879, at Balmoral, in the western district of Victoria, the son of William Henry, a fellmonger and later a wool-classer, and Louise, née Woodford. William appears to have emigrated to Australia from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, marrying Louise at Balmoral in 1878. The young Blakey read widely and later lent his support to government increases to

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BUZACOTT, Richard (1867–1933)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1910–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

BUZACOTT, Richard (1867–1933)
Senator for Western Australia, 1910–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)

Richard Buzacott was born at Emu Flat, near Clare, South Australia, on 7 September 1867, son of Richard Buzacott, a farmer of Emu Farm, Armagh (near Clare, South Australia) and his wife Margaret, née McKinnon. An elder brother, Nicholas, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council (1899–1933). Richard was educated at Stanley Flat Primary School. In 1891, he went to work

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DE LARGIE, Hugh (1859–1947)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1901–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

DE LARGIE, Hugh (1859–1947)
Senator for Western Australia, 1901–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)

Hugh de Largie, miner and trade union leader, was born on 24 March 1859 in Airdrie, Scotland, the son of Archibald, a coal miner, and his wife Mary, née McLaren. Both parents died when he was young. Educated to primary level only, at St Margaret’s School in Airdrie, de Largie worked in the Lanarkshire mines from the age of ten and later became active

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FERRICKS, Myles Aloysius (1875–1932)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1913–20 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

FERRICKS, Myles Aloysius (1875–1932)
Senator for Queensland, 1913–20 (Australian Labor Party)

Myles Aloysius Ferricks was born in Maryborough, Queensland, on 12 November 1875, the fourteenth child of Austin and Mary, née Sheridan. Educated at the Albert State School and Maryborough Christian Brothers, he subsequently passed the Sydney University Junior Examination. With a farm upbringing and a first-class engine driver’s certificate, he was able to turn his hand to a variety of occupations from teaching to

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FINDLEY, Edward (1864–1947)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1904–17, 1923–29 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

FINDLEY, Edward (1864–1947)
Senator for Victoria, 1904–17, 1923–29 (Australian Labor Party)

Edward Findley, compositor, publisher, trade unionist and company director, wasborn, probably, on 8 September 1864 at Sandhurst, Bendigo, Victoria, to Timothy Findley, engine-driver, and his wife Mary, née Toohey. Both his parents hailed from Ireland, his father from Cork and his mother from Tipperary. In 1876, at the age of twelve, he began a five-year apprenticeship as a compositor, after which he worked on

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GARDINER, Albert (1867–1952)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1910–26, 1928 (Australian Labor Party; Progressive Labor)</span>

GARDINER, Albert (1867–1952)
Senator for New South Wales, 1910–26, 1928 (Australian Labor Party; Progressive Labor)

Albert (Jupp) Gardiner, carpenter and free trader, has the dubious distinction of holding the record for the longest speech ever made in the Federal Parliament—an all-night ‘stonewaller’ in 1918. Coincidentally, it was the youthful Albert’s resemblance to an English cricketer, one Henry Jupp, alias ‘Young Stonewall’, which led to his being dubbed ‘Jupp’ . Both Henry Jupp and his Australian namesake were broad-shouldered men

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GIVENS, Henry Thomas (1864–1928)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1904–28 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

GIVENS, Henry Thomas (1864–1928)
Senator for Queensland, 1904–28 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)

Henry Thomas Givens, cane-cutter, miner, journalist and President of the Senate for thirteen years, arrived in Australia in 1882. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on 12 June 1864,the son of a farmer, Robert Givens, and his wife, Mary Ann, née White. Once in the Antipodes, young Thomas travelled north to Queensland, where he worked on the cane fields. For a period, he

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GOULD, Sir Albert John (1847–1936)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1901–17 (Free Trade; Anti-Socialist Party; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

GOULD, Sir Albert John (1847–1936)
Senator for New South Wales, 1901–17 (Free Trade; Anti-Socialist Party; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)

In 1936, the then Leader of the Opposition, John Curtin, speaking of Sir Albert Gould, said: ‘I doubt sometimes that the people of Australia to-day really appreciate the importance that belonged to the establishment of the Commonwealth, and the great privilege enjoyed by those who . . . by their public service, sufficiently earned the confidence of the people to justify their return at

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GRANT, John (1857–1928)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1914–20, 1923–28 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

GRANT, John (1857–1928)
Senator for New South Wales, 1914–20, 1923–28 (Australian Labor Party)

Described by a Senate colleague as ‘the most ardent high priest of land values taxation that this country possesses’, John Grant, stonemason and labour activist, was born in 1857 in Abernethy, Scotland, to crofter parents, Gregor and Margaret. After completing his apprenticeship as a stonemason in Glasgow, he migrated to Australia, probably in 1880. Soon prominent in the Stonemasons’ Union in Sydney, he was

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GUTHRIE, Robert Storrie (1856–1921)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1903–21 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

GUTHRIE, Robert Storrie (1856–1921)
Senator for South Australia, 1903–21 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)

Robert Storrie Guthrie, seaman and trade unionist, was born at Partick, near Glasgow, Scotland, on 17 November 1856. He was the son of Andrew Guthrie, a joiner, and his wife Elizabeth, née Storrie. He was educated at Glen’s School, Glasgow. At the age of fifteen, Guthrie became a ship’s apprentice. In 1876, he arrived in Australia, only staying a short time before leaving for

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GUY, James (1860–1921)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1914–20 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

GUY, James (1860–1921)
Senator for Tasmania, 1914–20 (Australian Labor Party)

James Guy’s Protestant theology and his place in a labour movement influenced by Tasmanian social democracy (as opposed to the more radical labourism of the Australian mainland) must be taken into account in assessing the events of his political career. Guy was born in Launceston, Tasmania, on 13 November 1860, the eldest of the twelve children of Andrew, storeman, and Margaret, née Polock. He

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HENDERSON, Christopher George (1857–1933)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1904–23 (Australian Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

HENDERSON, Christopher George (1857–1933)
Senator for Western Australia, 1904–23 (Australian Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party)

Christopher George Henderson was born at Bedlington, Northumberland, England, on 19 August 1857, to George Henderson of Rothesay, Scotland, and Jane, née Short. At the time of her son’s birth, Jane could neither read nor write. Christoper George began his working life at the age of eight or nine years as a pony boy in a Northumberland coal mine. At fifteen, he became a

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KEATING, John Henry (1872–1940)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1901–23 (Protectionist; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

KEATING, John Henry (1872–1940)
Senator for Tasmania, 1901–23 (Protectionist; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)

John Henry Keating’s parting wish as he left the Federal Parliament after twenty-two years was that the Senate would ‘fulfil the functions which the founders of the Constitution fondly believed it would fulfil when they gave it its Constitution’.[1] At twenty-nine, Keating had been the youngest member of the first Commonwealth Parliament. According to Punch, in 1906 he was a ‘tall, plump, youthful looking

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LONG, James Joseph (1870–1932)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1910–18 (Labor Party)</span>

LONG, James Joseph (1870–1932)
Senator for Tasmania, 1910–18 (Labor Party)

James Joseph (Big Jim) Long, miner, was born at Hamilton-on-Forth, on Tasmania’s north-west coast, in 1870, the son of Patrick, a farmer, and Maria, née Hannan. James was educated to primary level and at an early age joined those who sought their fortunes on the burgeoning west coast mine fields, first as prospector and later as mine employee. While on the coast, Long was

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LYNCH, Patrick Joseph (1867–1944)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1907–38 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)</span>

LYNCH, Patrick Joseph (1867–1944)
Senator for Western Australia, 1907–38 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)

Patrick Joseph Lynch, shearer, miner, seaman, engine-driver, trade unionist and farmer, was born on 24 May 1867 at Skearke, Moynalty, Kells, County Meath, Ireland, the youngest of eight children, to Michael Lynch, farmer, and his wife Bridget, née Cahill. Patrick’s family had farmed their 17-acre property for several generations. It was here in this close-knit rural community at the Newcastle end of Moynalty parish,

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MAUGHAN, William John Ryott (1863–1933)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1913–20 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

MAUGHAN, William John Ryott (1863–1933)
Senator for Queensland, 1913–20 (Australian Labor Party)

Editor to state politician, Labor functionary to senator, William John Ryott Maughan was born on 8 January 1863 at Whitechapel, London, the son of the Rev. Joseph Maughan and Selina Gedge, née Pace. Maughan’s father, who had been ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1860, was associate secretary of the Colonial and Continental Church Society, and author of Pastoral Addresses.By 1867, he was vicar

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McDOUGALL, Allan (1857–1924)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1910–20, 1922–24 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

McDOUGALL, Allan (1857–1924)
Senator for New South Wales, 1910–20, 1922–24 (Australian Labor Party)

Allan McDougall, boilermaker, was born at Pyrmont, New South Wales, on 2 August 1857, son of Allan McDougall and his wife Catherine, née Keith. Educated to primary school level, he became an apprentice at the Australian Steam Navigation Company, where his father was foreman boilermaker. Later, the young McDougall moved to Mort’s Dock where he worked beside John Storey and other pioneers of the

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McKISSOCK, Andrew Nelson (1872–1919)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1914–17 (Labor Party)</span>

McKISSOCK, Andrew Nelson (1872–1919)
Senator for Victoria, 1914–17 (Labor Party)

Andrew Nelson McKissock, adventurer, compositor and trade unionist, was born on 6 December 1872 in Ballarat East, the son of John McKissock, butcher, and Helen, née Rattray. After attending a local school, he was apprenticed to F.W. Niven as a compositor. As a young man, he became deeply interested in the trade union movement. He joined the Typographical Society, and in 1900 became adelegate

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MILLEN, Edward Davis (1860–1923)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1901–23 (Free Trade; Anti-Socialist Party; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

MILLEN, Edward Davis (1860–1923)
Senator for New South Wales, 1901–23 (Free Trade; Anti-Socialist Party; Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)

As Australia’s first Minister for Repatriation, Edward Millen was a central figure in the establishment of Australia’s repatriation policies and machinery. Born in Deal, Kent, on 7 November 1860, the son of John Bullock Millen, a pilot of the Cinque Ports, and Charlotte, née Davis, he began his working life as an adjuster of marine insurance. Migrating to New South Wales around 1880, Millen

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MULLAN, John (1871–1941)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1913–17 (Labor Party)</span>

MULLAN, John (1871–1941)
Senator for Queensland, 1913–17 (Labor Party)

John Mullan, ‘a small, pugnacious figure, with a Paderewski-like mop of curly black hair’, impressed his contemporaries as ‘a fluent and somewhat combative debater, with a sprightly Irish wit . . . as nimble and elusive in the dialectical wrestling bouts of the debating floor as the fabled leprechaun of Irish folk-lore’.[1] Mullan was born in Loughlinstown, near Dublin, Ireland, on 8 September 1871,

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NEEDHAM, Edward (1874–1956)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1907–20, 1923–29 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

NEEDHAM, Edward (1874–1956)
Senator for Western Australia, 1907–20, 1923–29 (Australian Labor Party)

Edward (Ted) Needham was born at Ormskirk in Lancashire, probably on 30 September 1874. His parents were Patrick Needham, a labourer, and Margaret, née Fahy, both of Irish Roman Catholic background. Ted Needham was very short of stature. During his years in the Senate, he and another Labor senator, Arthur Rae, used to ridicule each other’s lack of height. Once, when asked by a

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NEWLANDS, Sir John (1864–1932)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1913–32 (Australian Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)</span>

NEWLANDS, Sir John (1864–1932)
Senator for South Australia, 1913–32 (Australian Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)

John Newlands, railwayman, advocate for the Northern Territory and President of the Senate at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, was born on 4 August 1864, at Dallaschyle, near Cawdor, Nairnshire, Scotland, the son of an agricultural labourer, Andrew Newlands, and his wife, Ann. John used the name ‘Newland’ until May 1926 when he changed his name by deed poll to

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O’KEEFE, David John (1864–1943)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1901–06, 1910–20 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

O’KEEFE, David John (1864–1943)
Senator for Tasmania, 1901–06, 1910–20 (Australian Labor Party)

In May 1901, the Melbourne Age in describing the men of the new Federal Parliament referred to Senator O’Keefe of Tasmania as ‘a moderate Labor representative, a moderate protectionist and a moderate believer in many other things’.[1]David John O’Keefe was born, probably on 21 August 1864, at Longford, Tasmania, to David John O’Keefe, farmer, and Mary Ann, née McCullagh. After leaving Carrick State School

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O’LOGHLIN, James Vincent (1852–1925)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1907, 1913–20, 1923–25 (Australian Labor Party)</span>

O’LOGHLIN, James Vincent (1852–1925)
Senator for South Australia, 1907, 1913–20, 1923–25 (Australian Labor Party)

James Vincent O’Loghlin, the only senator to be on active service in World War I, was born at Gumeracha, in the Adelaide Hills, on 25 November 1852, the son of James O’Loghlin and his wife Susan, née Kennedy. His father, who was a farmer, had emigrated to South Australia from County Clare, Ireland, in 1840. O’Loghlin spent the first half of his life in

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PEARCE, Sir George Foster (1870–1952)<br /> <span class=subheader>Senator for Western Australia, 1901–38 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)</span>

PEARCE, Sir George Foster (1870–1952)
Senator for Western Australia, 1901–38 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist Party; United Australia Party)

Sir George Foster Pearce, carpenter and trade union leader, was born on 14 January 1870 at Mount Barker, South Australia, one of ten children of James Pearce, a blacksmith who had emigrated from Cornwall, and his wife Jane, née Foster, of London. He left school at eleven and became a farm worker, but after several unhappy years on the land, he began a carpentry

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READY, Rudolph Keith (1878–1958)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Tasmania, 1910–17 (Labor Party)</span>

READY, Rudolph Keith (1878–1958)
Senator for Tasmania, 1910–17 (Labor Party)

Rudolph Keith Ready, draper and businessman, was born at Latrobe, Tasmania, on 15 December 1878, the son of Samuel, a saddler, and Mary Minnie Susanna, née Mumford, who were pioneers of the Latrobe district. After a primary school education, Ready studied at the Latrobe Commercial College and worked as a junior in a drapery store. At the age of nineteen, he was employed by

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RUSSELL, Edward John (1878–1925)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Victoria, 1907–25 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)</span>

RUSSELL, Edward John (1878–1925)
Senator for Victoria, 1907–25 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)

Socialist firebrand and federal minister, Edward John Russell, was born on 10 August 1878 at Warrnambool, Victoria, the son of Joseph Russell, a baker born in Ireland, and his wife, Melbourne-born Mary Frances, née Conway. Russell arrived in Melbourne with his family in 1890, during the great maritime strike, and was educated at Newport State School and St Mary’s Roman Catholic school at Williamstown.

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SENIOR, William (1850–1926)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1913–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)</span>

SENIOR, William (1850–1926)
Senator for South Australia, 1913–23 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)

On his retirement from the Senate, William Senior referred to himself as ‘that troublesome man who sat in the corner’[1]but, as we shall see, any trouble he caused was more the consequence of his conscience, than mere politicking. He was born at Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, on 9 February 1850 to Thomas Senior, an engineer and farmer, and Charlotte, née Dennison. At the age

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SHANNON, John Wallace (1862–1926)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1912–13, 1914–20 (Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)</span>

SHANNON, John Wallace (1862–1926)
Senator for South Australia, 1912–13, 1914–20 (Liberal Party; Nationalist Party)

His statement: ‘I am an Australian first, and a South Australian afterwards’,[1]was at the heart of John Wallace Shannon’s political philosophy. Born at Moculta, South Australia, on 28 April 1862, son of Abraham Shannon, farmer, and Eliza, née Mahood, Shannon was to rise to a position of eminence as a farmer, businessman and state politician before entering the Senate. Educated at Angaston, Shannon took

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STEWART, James Charles (1850–1931)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1901–17 (Labor Party)</span>

STEWART, James Charles (1850–1931)
Senator for Queensland, 1901–17 (Labor Party)

James Charles Stewart, an advocate of Scottish home rule, was born in Gorton, near Grantown‑on‑Spey, Morayshire, Scotland, on 7 September 1850. His father, Angus, was a farmer and blacksmith and his mother was Jessie Cruickshanks. Both lived in Gorton. James Charles attended the parish school until he was twelve, when he began work as a farm labourer. He must have continued some studies for

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STORY, William Harrison (1857–1924)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for South Australia, 1904–17 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)</span>

STORY, William Harrison (1857–1924)
Senator for South Australia, 1904–17 (Labor Party; National Labour Party; Nationalist)

William Harrison Story, trade unionist, businessman and politician, and son of George and Eliza Story, née Morgan, was born in Mitcham, South Australia on 31 May 1857. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Norton Summit as William’s father, at that time occupied as a gardener, had been commissioned to lay out and plant the grounds of ‘Drysdale’, the home of Thomas Playford. In 1863,

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TURLEY, Joseph Henry Lewis (1859–1929)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for Queensland, 1904–17 (Labor Party)</span>

TURLEY, Joseph Henry Lewis (1859–1929)
Senator for Queensland, 1904–17 (Labor Party)

Joseph Henry Lewis (Harry) Turley, wharf labourer, trade unionist and first Labor President of the Senate, was born on 24 April 1859 at Burton St Michael, Gloucester, England, the son of Charles Turley, master shoemaker, and his wife, Agnes (Susan), née Oliver. Harry was educated at Brixham, Devonshire. He went to sea, arriving in Brisbane in 1879, and worked there as a wharf labourer.

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WATSON, David (1870–1924)<br /><span class=subheader>Senator for New South Wales, 1914–17 (Labor Party)</span>

WATSON, David (1870–1924)
Senator for New South Wales, 1914–17 (Labor Party)

David Watson’s Baptist upbringing in a Scottish mining town, may well account for his work as miner, union official and temperance activist, and for his refusal in Parliament to exchange principle for political expediency. Watson was born on 14 February 1870 at Shawfield, Rutherglen, Scotland, the son of John, a miner, and Jane, née Marshall. The young David was working by the age of

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