John Henry Gardiner (25 May 1907 – 8 April 1974) was an Australian politician, who served as a Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, Mayor of Redfern and Chairman of the Sydney County Council.

Early life and career

He was born in Redfern to businessman Edward Felix Gardiner. He was educated at Haberfield Public School and

Fort Street High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary day school, located in Petersh ...

before becoming a motor parts manufacturer. Around 1928 he married Dora Elizabeth Saunders, with whom he had three children.

Political career

In January 1932, Gardiner was first elected as a Labor Party candidate to a seat on Redfern Ward of the Redfern Municipal Council and soon rose to be mayor of the council in December 1934. Gardiner was appointed mayor by the Minister for Local Government, Eric Spooner, which was due to the deadlocked nature of the council, which was split equally between Labor and independents, and the council up until then had been unable to settle on a candidate for mayor. Taking office as mayor at age 26, Gardiner was the youngest mayor in Sydney and served until January 1936. Gardiner continued to serve on Redfern council until his defeat at the December 1941 elections. In August 1935, Gardiner was elected to the No.2 Constituency of the

Sydney County Council The Sydney County Council (SCC) was formed in 1935 to produce electricity and operate the electricity network in a number of municipalities in metropolitan Sydney. Unlike other New South Wales county councils, which were voluntary associations o ...

and faced an unsuccessful legal challenge from his main conservative opponent, who disputed the results. In January 1938, he was elected chairman of the county council and served for a single term. Defeated as a county councillor in 1945, Gardiner was elected in September 1947 to fill a vacancy in the council caused by the retirement of

Stanley Parry Stanley Evan Parry (23 November 1895 – 23 June 1973) was an Australian politician. He was born at Ashfield to master builder William Evan Parry and Bessie Locke. He attended Gordon Public School and became a builder before serving in Worl ...

. He served on the county council until the election in February 1949 when he was defeated, along with many other Labor councillors. From 1960 to 1974 he was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

, during which time he was associated with the

Independent Labor Group The Independent Labor Group was a minor Australian political grouping in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1959 to 1977. The group emerged when a number of Labor Party MLCs were expelled from the party for voting against the abolition ...

. Gardiner died in office in 1974.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Harry 1907 births 1974 deaths Australian Labor Party mayors Mayors of Redfern Australian Labor Party councillors Independent Labor Group politicians Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 20th-century Australian politicians Councillors of Sydney County Council People educated at Fort Street High School