Edward Bertram Johnston (11 January 1880 – 6 September 1942), known as Bertie Johnston, was the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

member for Williams-Narrogin from 1911 to 1928, and a Senator from 1929 until 1942. His resignation from the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

in 1915 made possible the defeat of

John Scaddan John Scaddan, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916. Early life John Scaddan was born in Moonta, South Australia, into a Cornish A ...

's Labor

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

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 ...

Early life

Johnston was born in

Geraldton, Western Australia 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. ...

on 11 January 1880, the son of

Harry Johnston Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (12 June 1858 – 31 July 1927), known as Harry Johnston, was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely in Africa and spoke many African languages. He publishe ...

Surveyor-General of Western Australia The Surveyor General of Western Australia is the person nominally responsible for government surveying in Western Australia. In the early history of Western Australia, the office of surveyor general was one of the most important public offices. ...

. He was educated at High School (now

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to be ...

) in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, and from 1895 to 1909 was employed as a clerk in the Lands and Surveys Department. He later became a

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

farmer near Narrogin, and a substantial investor in

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s and

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

State politics

Johnston joined the

, and on 3 October 1911 was elected to the

seat of Williams-Narrogin. In his first term he largely supported

's Labor government, but after being re-elected in 1914 he became an outspoken

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

critic of the government, and voted against it on a number of occasions. Johnston was the only Labor member for a farming seat after 1914, and he was greatly angered by Scaddan's failure to honour a promise to lower the price of crown land. Late in 1914, the Scaddan government faced a no-confidence vote over its handling of the

Nevanas affair The Nevanas affair was a political scandal in Western Australia that was partly responsible for the downfall of John Scaddan's Labor government. Early in 1914, Scaddan and one of his ministers signed a contract with the London financier S. V. N ...

. Johnston and the government's other main backbench critics, Edward Heitmann and George Taylor, were convinced not to bring down the government by the promise of a leadership spill. They voted with the government, and the government won by a single vote. However, the caucus subsequently voted to confirm the existing ministry. In protest, Johnston resigned from the Labor party and from

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

on 18 December 1915. He then contested the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

as an independent, and won. This left the government with just 24 seats in a house of 50. Scaddan's minority government was permitted to continue for six months, but in July 1916 it was defeated. Despite the defeat of the Labor party, a Labor member,

Michael Troy Michael Francis Troy (October 3, 1940 – August 3, 2019) was an American competitive swimmer, a two-time Olympic champion, and world record-holder in three events. The peak of Troy's swimming career occurred between 1959 and 1960 while he was ...

, remained

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

, thus giving Frank Wilson's government an extra vote. In February 1917, Labor moved a motion of censure against the government, and Johnston indicated his intention to move an amendment. Under the assumption that Johnston would support the censure as amended, Troy resigned as Speaker in order to give the Labor party sufficient numbers to defeat the government. However at the last minute Wilson and the leader of the Country Party

Francis Willmott Francis Edward Sykes Willmott (1870 – 29 January 1941) was an Australian politician who was a member of both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia, serving in the Legislative Assembly from 1914 to 1921, and then in the Legislative ...

persuaded their followers to accept Johnston's nomination as Speaker. Johnston became Speaker on 13 February 1917, and the government were then able to defeat the censure motion by a single vote. Greatly angered by what they saw as a betrayal, the Labor members refused to accept Johnston's authority. When during a heated argument Johnston commanded Labor member John Holman to leave the chamber, Holman refused and a policeman was called to eject him. A number of Labor members then physically prevented Holman's removal. Johnston was forced to suspend the sitting, and the following day he resigned as Speaker, to be replaced by former leader of the Country party James Gardiner. Johnston won his seat as a Country Party candidate in the election of September 1917, and would hold it for the Country Party until 1928. From 1923 until 1928, he was Deputy Leader of the Country Party.

Federal politics

Johnston resigned his Legislative Assembly seat on 3 October 1928, and on 17 November was elected to the Australian Senate for the federal Country Party. He took up his seat in the Senate on 1 July 1929, and remained a senator until his death in 1942.

Personal life

On 18 February 1931, Johnston married Hildelith Olymphe King-Lethbridge. He fathered three daughters, one of whom married

David Wordsworth David John Wordsworth (born 9 June 1930) is a former Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 1971 to 1993. He served as a minister in the government of Sir Charles Court. Wordswort ...

, a future member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly, the lower house. The two Houses ...

. Johnston owned a number of hotels in the Perth metropolitan area (including the

Captain Stirling Hotel The Captain Stirling Hotel is a heritage-listed building located at 80 Stirling Highway, Nedlands, Western Australia. The building was designed by Marshall Clifton in 1935, and is an Inter-War Mediterranean/ Spanish Mission style two-storey ho ...

), as well as significant investments in rural Western Australia. On 6 September 1942, he drowned at Black Rock,

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 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Edward Bertram 1880 births 1942 deaths Deaths by drowning in Australia People educated at Hale School National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Australian Senate Speakers of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from Geraldton Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians