Alick Dudley Kay (3 October 1884 – 4 February 1961) was an Australian politician and Domain orator. He is described by the Australian Dictionary of Biography as a "harmless ratbag".

Early life and education

Kay was born in the Sydney suburb of

Petersham, New South Wales Petersham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Petersham is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area ...

and educated at Petersham and Stanmore public schools. Alick became a clerk with

New South Wales Government Railways The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of differen ...

and joined the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

in 1915.

Career

Kay ran unsuccessfully for the federal seat of South Sydney for the Nationalist Party in 1917. In 1918 he left the Nationalists and started appearing regularly as an anti-Communist speaker at Sydney Domain. He also travelled regularly to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to orate next to the Yarra. In 1925, he won one of the five seats of North Shore under

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

as an independent. In parliament, he regularly voted with Labor to the horror of his former supporters. Under the electoral system, the Labor Party automatically won his position if he resigned, so Jack Lang offered him a position on the Metropolitan Meat Board in 1926 as a consumers' representative. The

Thomas Bavin Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, (5 May 1874 – 31 August 1941) was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he stud ...

government passed legislation in 1927 to remove him from the board. After Lang's return to power in 1930, he was reappointed to the board, but was sacked again by the Bertram Stevens government.

Personal life

In 1913, Kay married Mary Elizabeth Clasby, a 52-year-old widow with five children (one of her sons, John Clasby, was briefly a federal MP). In 1933, Kay travelled to England. His wife had died and he married Dorothy Edith Gamson at Islington in June 1943. He later claimed to have worked for the Ministry of Information during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In 1951, he returned to Sydney, and resumed speaking at the Domain on Sundays. He died in the Sydney suburb of

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

, survived by his wife.

Notes

Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1884 births 1961 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Independent members of the Parliament of New South Wales {{Australia-Independent-politician-stub