William Peter Barry (30 June 1899 – 21 December 1972) was a Member of the
Victorian Legislative Assembly for the
Electoral district of Carlton from July 1932 until April 1955. Barry was a member of the
Labor Party until March 1955, when he was expelled from the party as part of the
Australian Labor Party split of 1955. He became, with
Les Coleman in the
Victorian Legislative Council, joint leader of the
Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), a party that in 1957 became the
Democratic Labor Party.
Barry was educated at St Brigid's School, North Fitzroy, Victoria and at
St George's School, Carlton. He was a tobacco worker and union official before entering Parliament, and was considered close to
John Wren, the Victorian entrepreneur.
Political career
The
Communist Party opposed Barry at parliamentary elections in the 1940s with some of its leading members, including
Ralph Gibson and Dr Gerald O'Dea. Barry was Minister for Transport in the first
Cain government in 1943, Minister for Health, for Housing, and for Forests in the second
Cain government from 1945 to 1947, and Minister for Health in the third
Cain government from 1952 to 1955. He was also a member of the
Melbourne City Council from 1938 to 1955.
Barry was expelled from the Labor Party in 1955 and became leader of the Victorian Labor Party (Anti-Communist). He led his group
across the floor to support a successful
motion of no confidence in John Cain's government. For that perceived act of political treachery, he had
thirty pieces of silver thrown at his feet.
Noel Counihan
Noel Counihan (4 October 19135 July 1986) was an Australian social realist painter, printmaker, cartoonist and illustrator active in the 1940s and 1950s in Melbourne. An atheist, communist, and art activist, Counihan made art in response to the p ...
's 1955 painting ''On Parliament Steps'', now in the Art Gallery of Ballarat, depicts the incident. Barry was defeated at the election of 1955 by the ALP candidate
Denis (Dinny) Lovegrove.
[Ross Fitzgerald (2003), ''The Pope's Battalions. Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor Split'', University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Queensland, p.148.] As a
Democratic Labor Party candidate, Barry unsuccessfully contested the seats of
Fitzroy at the
1961 state election, and
Greensborough at the
1967 state election.
[
]
Peter Kavanagh
Barry's grandson, Peter Kavanagh, was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Western Victoria Region
Western Victoria Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was created i ...
at the 2006 state election, representing the Democratic Labor Party, but was defeated at the 2010 state election. Kavanagh was the first DLP candidate to be elected to the Victorian Parliament since 1955, when Frank Scully won the Electoral district of Richmond.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Bill
1899 births
1972 deaths
Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria
Democratic Labor Party (historical) politicians
Politicians from Melbourne
Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) members of the Parliament of Victoria
20th-century Australian politicians
People from Northcote, Victoria