Charles Christopher Keyser (6 December 1871 – 30 October 1965) was a member of 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 in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

from 1904 to 1905. Born at a timber station in

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West region of the state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destination for Western Australians; however, the closure of the Busselton ...

, Charles Keyser was the son of American timber contractor and master builder Charles Donat Keyser. Apprenticed in the printing trade, he followed a variety of professions in his youth. On 21 April 1898, he married Lucy Sanderson in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

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 ...

. They had three sons and five daughters. In 1898, Keyser was appointed assistant to the Town Clerk of the

Town of Albany The Town of Albany was a local government area in the Great Southern region of Western Australia representing the town of Albany, south-southeast of the capital, Perth. History The Municipality of Albany was gazetted on 21 February 1871. I ...

, serving as acting Town Clerk in 1901. Keyser became active in the Labour movement, joining the Labor Party and helping to form an Albany branch of the Political Labour League. At the June 1904 election, he was elected to the

seat of Albany. He held the seat until the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

of 27 October 1905, when he was defeated by Edward Barnett. From 1906 to 1911, Keyser was secretary of the Greenbushes Road Board. He was then Town Clerk of the Municipality of Wagin until 1929, during which time he unsuccessfully contested the Legislative Assembly seat of Wagin at the 1917 election. He was secretary of the Murray Road Board from 1929 until his retirement in 1935. He then moved to Victoria, dying at Bentleigh on 30 October 1965.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keyser, Charles Christopher 1871 births 1965 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly People from the South West (Western Australia) Australian people of American descent