Arthur Jones (12 June 1892 – 30 June 1976) was a
shearer
A shearer is someone who shears, such as a cloth shearer, or a sheep shearer.
Origins of the name include from near Bergen in Norway 1600s weden of that periodas ''Skea'' (pronounced "Skeg" meaning "beard") and Heddle (meaning market place) as mig ...
and member of the
Queensland Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...
.
Early days
Murphy was born at
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
, England, to Thomas Jones and his wife Mary Anne (née Nutting) and was educated in
Wolverley
Wolverley is a village; with nearby Cookley (1 mi northeast), it forms a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is 2 miles north of Kidderminster and lies on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and ...
. As a child he moved to Canada but returned to England. He then travelled alone to Australia arriving in March 1911 where he became a "gun" shearer in the
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...
and in January 1916 arrived in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
. In 1924–25 he demonstrated his shearing abilities at the
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925.
Background
In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibit ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
in England and he was able to shear 200 sheep in an eight-hour day.
[
]
Political career
From 1920 until 1929 Jones was an official with the Australian Workers Union
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...
which helped launch his career in politics. In 1929 he won the seat of Burke
Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...
,[ replacing ]Darby Riordan
David "Darby" Riordan (23 July 1886 – 15 October 1936) was an Australian politician.
Riordan was the Australian Labor Party member for Burke in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, winning the seat in 1918. He held Burke till 1929 at which ...
who had resigned the seat to successfully contest the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
seat of Kennedy
Kennedy may refer to:
People
* John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States
* John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana
* Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...
in the federal parliament. In 1932 Burke was abolished and for the next seven years he was an investigation officer with the Department of Labour and Industry.
In 1939, the member for Charters Towers
Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under ...
, William Wellington, died of pneumonia and Jones easily won the resulting by-election.Queensland Labor Party
The Queensland Labor Party (QLP) was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair. In 1962 the party became the Queensland se ...
.[
]
Personal life
Jones was an avid reader and a keen gardener and lawn bowler. He represented Queensland at both soccer and lawn bowls.[
In 1926 he married Margaret Fanny Bennett at St Alban's Anglican Church in Belmore, Sydney, and together they had two daughters. Jones died in 1976 and was cremated.][Jones, Arthur (1892–1976)]
— Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
Retrieved 14 February 2016.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Arthur
Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
1892 births
1976 deaths
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland
20th-century Australian politicians
British emigrants to Australia