George Walker Illingworth (27 February 1877 – 11 June 1950) was an Australian politician who represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

seat of Goodwood from 1938 to 1941 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 ...

. Illingworth was born at Shipley in

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. He arrived in

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 ...

at the age of seventeen, and moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1898 as secretary of '' Critic Proprietary Limited''. He was involved with ''The Critic'' for 25 years, in later years as managing editor and part-proprietor. After leaving the newspaper in 1923, he was secretary of the Adelaide and Suburban Advertising Company Limited. In local politics, Illingworth served as alderman and councillor of the Corporate Town of Unley for a total of seventeen years, and was mayor from 1926 to 1928. He was also president of the Master Process Engravers' Association of South Australia and served on the state executive of the

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

movement and the District and Bush Nursing Society and the state council of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. He unsuccessfully contested the 1918 state election in the seat of Sturt and the 1919 federal election in the seat of Boothby, both times as an independent. Illingworth detested party politics and was outspoken on political issues for many years prior to his entry into state parliament. In World War I, as ''The Critic'' editor, he was a vehement supporter of conscription and of the formation of the Nationalist Party. In the 1920s, he condemned atrocities against Aboriginal people in north-western Australia. During 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 ...

, Illingworth called for the abolition both of award wages and conditions and working for rations, and supported public works to reduce unemployment. He also supported the abolition of state parliaments. Illingworth was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1938 election as the independent member for

Unley Unley is an inner-southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, within the City of Unley. The suburb is the home of the Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Unley neighbours Adelaide Park Lands, Fullar ...

. After the 1938 election, he was one of 14 independent MPs in the 39-member House of Assembly; as a grouping they won 40 percent of the primary vote, more than either of the major parties, and Illingworth was selected as their convenor. He had campaigned on the introduction of single-member electorates in favour of reintroducing proportional representation, advocated outlawing party preselection of candidates, supported free education through to university, scripture reading in schools, and increased use of referendums on social questions, and opposed the 40-hour week, although advocating "shorter hours of labor where practicable". Illingworth was defeated at the 1941 election. He later referred to some of the gains of that term of parliament as having been the introduction of scripture reading in State schools, an attempt at introducing proportional representation that passed the committee stages, and the defeat of an extension of liquor trading hours. He died in June 1950, and was buried at Mitcham Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Illingworth, George Walker 1877 births 1950 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Independent members of the Parliament of South Australia YMCA leaders