Cornelius James Danahey (1 October 1856 – 1928) was an American-born Australian politician. He was born to Irish parents in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, where he attended Cass Union High School. An apprentice engineer from the age of thirteen, he moved to Australia around 1873 and worked as a machinery agent for a number of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

businesses. In 1884 he began working for the railway service as an engine fitter. In 1891 he was elected to 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 ...

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

as one of the first group of Labor Party politicians. However, by 1894 he had left Labor after refusing to sign the pledge, and he was defeated in Petersham as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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candidate. He ran again for Petersham in 1895 and for Uralla-Walcha in 1898, without success. He served with the Bushmen's Contingent in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. Danahey's final appearance in Australian politics was as the Labor candidate for Belubula at the

1910 New South Wales state election The 1910 New South Wales state election was held on 14 October 1910 for all of the 90 seats in the 22nd New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a second ballot if a majority was not achie ...

. Some time after this he moved to Canada, and he died in New Zealand in 1928.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danahey, Cornelius 1856 births 1928 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales American emigrants to Australia Politicians from Detroit Australian people of Irish descent Australian military personnel of the Second Boer War Colony of New South Wales people