David John O'Keefe (21 August 1864 – 21 July 1943) was an Australian politician and journalist. 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 t ...

(ALP) and served in both houses of federal parliament, as a Senator for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

(1901–1906, 1910–1920) and holding the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(1922–1925). He subsequently entered state parliament, serving as

Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly The Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania. The role of Speaker has traditionally been a partisan office, filled by the governing party of the time. Speakers of the Ta ...

(1934–1942). Prior to entering politics he had been the editor of the ''

Zeehan and Dundas Herald The ''Zeehan and Dundas Herald'' (also seen as ''Zeehan Dundas Herald'') was a newspaper for the West Coast Tasmania community, based in Zeehan and Dundas from 1890 to 1922. It was published by William Lawrence Calder and Joseph Bowden, with ...

'' on Tasmania's west coast.

Early life

O'Keefe was "probably" born on 21 August 1864 in

Longford, Tasmania Longford is a town in the northern midlands of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 145 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston and a 15-minute drive from the airport. It ...

. He was the son of Mary Ann (née McCullagh) and David John O'Keefe, his father being a farmer. He attended the state school in Carrick until the age of 14, after which he worked as a labourer and farmhand. He moved to Beaconsfield at the age of 17 and worked as a gold miner for four years, operating the

stamp battery Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

used to process the results of

quartz reef mining Quartz reef mining is a type of gold mining in "reefs" (veins) of quartz. Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust, and most quartz veins do not carry gold, but those that have gold are avidly hunted by prospectors. In the sh ...

. O'Keefe subsequently purchased a small newsagency in Beaconsfield, which was destroyed in a fire but later rebuilt. He was also the Beaconsfield correspondent for Launceston's '' Daily Telegraph''. In 1891, O'Keefe moved to

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan, and neighbouring mining towns of Dundas, Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater ...

on Tasmania's west coast. He was the editor of the ''

'' from 1894 to 1899. He "made a study of mineralogy and put his learning to good use by writing many articles on west-coast mines for Tasmanian and mainland newspapers, as well as examining and reporting on many mining propositions". After resigning from the ''Herald'' in 1899 he moved to Queensland and reported for Melbourne's '' Argus'' on the copper fields at

Chillagoe Chillagoe is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Chillagoe had a population of 251 people. It was once a thriving mining town for a range of minerals, but is now reduced to a small z ...

and

Mount Garnet Mount Garnet is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Mount Garnet had a population of 430 people. Geography Various small communities populate the area around Mount Garnet. These include Tableland ...

Federal politics

In 1901, O'Keefe was elected to the Australian Senate, running with endorsement from the Protectionist Party, as there was no Labour Party in Tasmania at the time; however, he joined the

caucus in Parliament. He was defeated in 1906, but re-elected in 1910, serving until his defeat in 1919 (taking effect in 1920). O'Keefe served as Chairman of Committees from 1910 to 1914. In 1922, he was elected to the

, defeating Labor-turned-

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

MP William Laird Smith for the seat of Denison. He was the first Tasmanian to have served in both houses of federal parliament.

Later life

He was defeated in 1925 by Nationalist Sir John Gellibrand and worked in

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 ...

for some time before returning to Tasmania in 1931. In 1934 O'Keefe was elected to the

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 ...

, immediately taking the position of

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 ...

. He held the Speaker's position until 1942 and died the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeefe, David 1864 births 1943 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Denison Members of the Australian House of Representatives Speakers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian people of Irish descent Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century Australian politicians