George "Mulga" Taylor (16 May 1861 – 24 September 1935) was an Australian labour leader and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 ...

from 1901 to 1930. He was a minister in the government of

Henry Daglish Henry Daglish (18 November 1866 – 16 August 1920) was an Australian politician who was the sixth premier of Western Australia and the first from the Labor Party, serving from 10 August 1904 to 25 August 1905. Daglish was born in Ballarat, V ...

, and later served as

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is a title commonly held by Speaker (politics), presiding officers of parliamentary bodies styled Legislative Assembly, legislative assemblies. The office is most widely used in state and territorial legislatures ...

from 1917 to 1924.

Early life

Taylor was born in

Campbelltown, New South Wales Campbelltown is a suburb located on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney south-west of the Sydney central business district by road. Campbelltown is the admini ...

(on the outskirts 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 ...

), to Margaret (née Bourke) and Robert Taylor.George Taylor
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 16 June 2016. He joined a

shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

team at the age of 12, and his work as a shearer eventually took him to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where he became involved with the fledgling

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. An organiser of the Queensland Shearers' Union, he was involved with the 1891 shearers' strike, and in its aftermath was among twelve strike leaders convicted of

criminal conspiracy In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance ...

. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on St Helena Island Prison, but was released early for good behaviour. After his release, Taylor left for

Coolgardie, Western Australia Coolgardie is a small town in Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 850 people. Although Coolgardie is now known to most Western Australians as a tourist town and a mining ghost town, it wa ...

, subsequently working as a miner in

Erlistoun Erlistoun Station is a pastoral lease that has operated as a cattle station and more recently as a sheep station in Western Australia. It is situated approximately to the north of Laverton and east of Leinster in the Goldfields-Esperance ...

and

Sir Samuel Sir Samuel is an abandoned town located between Leinster and Wiluna in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. Gold was discovered in the area in 1895. Officials lobbied for a townsite to be created in 1896 following the realis ...

. He maintained his involvement with the labour movement while in the Goldfields, helping to found a local branch of the Amalgamated Workers' Association (a predecessor of the

Australian Workers Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...

Parliamentary career

At the 1901 state election, Taylor was elected to the newly created seat of Mount Margaret, which was initially centred around the town of the same name. He had poor relations with many of the seven other Labor MPs who had been elected (including

Thomas Bath Thomas Henry Bath, CBE (21 February 1875 – 6 November 1956) was an Australian politician, trade unionist, newspaper editor, writer, and cooperativist. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative ...

and William Johnson), and at one stage was briefly expelled from the parliamentary

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

after attacking the party's leader,

Robert Hastie Robert "Bob" Hastie (27 July 1861 – 9 April 1914) was an Australian politician who was the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in Western Australia. He was a member of the state's Legislative Assembly from 1901 to 1905. Hastie wa ...

. However, Taylor's confrontational attitude cooled once

became leader, and he was appointed Colonial Secretary when Daglish became

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

in August 1904. He resigned from the ministry in June 1905 after several differences of opinion with the rest of cabinet, but the Daglish government did not last much longer, losing a

confidence motion A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in August 1905. From October 1910 to November 1911, Taylor served as chairman of committees in the Legislative Assembly, despite Labor being in opposition at the time. Following the party's 1916 split over the issue of

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, he joined the newly formed

National Labor Party The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pr ...

. In July 1917, Taylor was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, having been nominated by the

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: The ...

premier,

Henry Lefroy Sir Henry Bruce Lefroy (24 March 1854 – 19 March 1930) was the eleventh Premier of Western Australia. Biography Lefroy was born in Perth, Western Australia on 24 March 1854. His father was Anthony O'Grady Lefroy, Colonial Treasurer of Weste ...

. He was re-elected to the position after the 1917 state election, at which he also won re-election to his seat under the National Labor banner. The previous speaker, the Country Party's James Gardiner, had been forced to resign due to his hearing loss. Taylor served as speaker until the Coalition government's defeat at the 1924 state election. Shortly after, the National Labor Party was formally merged into the Nationalist Party. Taylor's seat, Mount Margaret, was abolished in a 1929 redistribution, and at the 1930 state election he attempted to transfer to the seat of Leederville (based in the northern suburbs of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

). He was unsuccessful, losing to Labor's Alexander Panton, who had previously been the member for

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

(another abolished Goldfields seat).

Later life

After leaving parliament, Taylor was appointed to the Licensing Court and Licenses Reduction Board, responsible for the issue of

liquor licence A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...

s. He served on the court until his retirement in 1933, and died at his home in Leederville in September 1935, aged 74."MR. GEORGE TAYLOR DEAD."
''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'', 25 September 1935. Taylor had married the widow Netta Whalan, (a daughter of

George Oughton George Oughton (20 February 1842 – 12 September 1898) was a musician and bandleader in South Australia, remembered as the Adelaide Town Hall's first organist. History Oughton was born in Jamaica, the youngest son of Rev. Samuel Oughton, whose d ...

) in 1910, with whom he had one child and also several stepchildren. She predeceased him, dying in June 1933.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, George 1861 births 1935 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian trade unionists Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from New South Wales Speakers of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Chairmen of Committees of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly