William Hawkins Sewell (7 February 1901 – 13 June 1980) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1950 to 1974, representing the seat of Geraldton. Sewell was born in

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

, a small town in Western Australia's Wheatbelt region. After leaving school, he worked as 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 ...

for a period, and later went to

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, where he eventually became a works foreman for the Geraldton Municipality. A long-time member of 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 ...

(AWU) and the Labor Party, Sewell first stood for parliament at the 1946 Legislative Council elections, but was defeated in Central Province by the sitting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member, Charles Simpson.William Hawkins Sewell
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 26 May 2016. The following year, he was selected as Labor's candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Geraldton at the 1947 state election. The retiring member was

John Willcock John Collings Willcock (9 August 1879 – 7 June 1956) was the 15th Premier of Western Australia, serving from 1936 until 1945. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party. Early life John Willcock was born at Frogmoor (now Frogmore), New So ...

, a former Labor

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. Sewell faced Liberal and Country Party opponents, and despite polling 47.7 percent on

first-preference votes In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

, could only poll 49.9 percent of the

two-party-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

, losing to Country candidate Edmund Hall. At the 1950 state election, Sewell was again selected as the Labor candidate for Geraldton, and reversed the result from the previous contest, defeating Hall with 50.7 percent of the two-party-preferred vote. After the 1956 election, he was made deputy chairman of committees in the government of

Albert Hawke Albert Redvers George Hawke (3 December 1900 – 14 February 1986) was the 18th Premier of Western Australia. He served from 23 February 1953 to 2 April 1959, and represented the Labor Party. Hawke was born in South Australia, and began ...

. In November 1957, following

Arthur Moir Arthur McAlister Moir (24 December 1900 – 27 April 1984) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1951 to 1971. He served as a minister in the government of Albert Hawke ...

's elevation to the ministry, he was made chairman of committees, serving in the position until the Labor government's defeat at the 1959 election. Sewell remained in parliament until his retirement at the 1974 state election, after which he was replaced as the member for Geraldton by Jeff Carr. He died in Geraldton in June 1980, aged 79. Sewell had married Bridget Ethel Connolly (née Kempton), a widow, in January 1926, with whom he had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Bill 1901 births 1980 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian trade unionists Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Beverley, Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians