Charles Ernest Culley CMG (16 April 1877 – 10 June 1949) was an Australian politician. He was a member of 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 the f ...

(ALP) and served in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

(1928–1931) and

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

(1934–1948). He was an assistant minister in the federal

Scullin Government Scullin may refer to: In places: * Scullin, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Division of Scullin, an electorate in the Australian House of Representatives People with the surname Scullin: * James Scullin (1876–1953), Prime Mi ...

and later became a minister in the Tasmanian state government.

Early life

Culley was born at Broadmarsh, near

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Tasmania and attended primary school. He worked in stables and was occasionally a jockey. He later worked as a miner at

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

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and Tullah and married Mary Jane Pope, in 1906. He was elected secretary of the Amalgamated Miners' Association in 1912. He moved to

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

in 1913 and became prominent in the union movement. He was a long-serving secretary of the Builders' Labourers Union and state secretary of the

Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Employees' Union of Australia Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Employees' Union of Australia (FLAIEU) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1910 and 1992. It represented workers employed in hospitality, catering, breweries and alcohol retailing. Formatio ...

; he was also secretary and president of the Tasmanian Female Confectioners Union and state president of the

Australian Textile Workers Union Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. He was president of the Hobart Trades Hall Council for most of the period from 1934 to 1944 and also served as president of the state Labor Party.

Early political career

Culley was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison for the

at the 1922 election. He lost his seat in the 1928 state election, but won the federal seat of Denison at the 1928 federal election. When

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

resigned from the Scullin Ministry in March 1931, Culley became Assistant Minister for Transport and War Service Homes, but in June he resigned in protest at

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

's support for the fiscally-conservative

Premiers' Plan The Premiers' Plan was a deflationary economic policy agreed by a meeting of the Premiers of the Australian states in June 1931 to combat the Great Depression in Australia that sparked the 1931 Labor split. Background The Great Depressio ...

to deal with the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. He lost his seat at the 1931 election.

Return to state politics

In 1934, Culley was elected to the state seat of Denison. He was chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works from 1934 to 1943. He was Minister for Mines from 1942 to 1943 and then Chief Secretary and Minister for Transport. In 1946, he did not seek re-election to the ministry due to his poor health and he retired from parliament in August 1948. Culley was appointed a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG) in 1947. He died at the Hobart suburb of

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in 1949; a

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was held at St David's' Cathedral and he was cremated at the Cornelian Bay Crematorium. He was survived by his wife, a daughter and four sons.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culley, Charles Ernest Australian miners Australian trade unionists Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Denison Members of the Cabinet of Australia Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 1877 births 1949 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians