Henry Kneebone (17 March 1876 – 22 December 1933) was an Australian journalist, author, editor and politician. He was born at

Kadina, South Australia Kadina ( ) is a town on the Yorke Peninsula of the Australian state of South Australia, approximately 144 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide. The largest town of the Peninsula, Kadina is one of the three Copper Triangle ...

in 1876, son of Henry Kneebone of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

and Elizabeth Ann (née Tonkin). In 1899, he began working as a journalist at the ''

Kadina and Wallaroo Times The ''Kadina and Wallaroo Times'' was a newspaper published in Kadina, and also serving the nearby Wallaroo, South Australia from August 1888 to August 1966. In 1968 the paper merged to form the ''Yorke Peninsula Country Times''. History Wit ...

'' under

David Bews David Bews (April 1850 – 24 February 1891) was a newspaper editor, politician in colonial South Australia and Minister of Education. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1885 until his death in 1891, representing the ...

, and five years later joined the gold rush to

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 ...

, where he began working for the ''

Coolgardie Miner The ''Coolgardie Miner'' (18 April 1894 – 16 June 1911) was a weekly newspaper established in Coolgardie, Western Australia, at a time when Coolgardie was the prominent town in the goldfields region of Western Australia. The subsequent publi ...

'', subsequently becoming its editor. The ''Coolgardie Miner'' ceased publication around the end of 1909. He joined the '' Daily Herald'', a Labor Party publication in

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 1910 and was made editor in 1911. In 1912 he was appointed press officer to the High Commission in London where he performed useful service. He founded the Anzac Buffet, which supplied more than a million free meals to Australian soldiers in London. In 1916 he returned to Adelaide and editorship of the ''Daily Herald'', which had fallen on hard times. He was unable to reverse its decline and the paper went into voluntary liquidation in 1924. In 1924 he was elected to 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 ...

but resigned the following year to contest (unsuccessfully) 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 ...

seat of Boothby. In 1931 he was appointed to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Senator for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, filling the

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

caused by the death of Country Party Senator John Chapman, but lost it in the election of later that year. He returned to journalism, as the editor of ''The Labor Advocate'', a Trades Hall publication. Kneebone died in 1933. His death notice in ''The Advertiser'' mentioned his editorship of the ''Advocate'' but not his political career. He showed great concern and affection for the Aboriginal peoples and was fascinated by their culture. His

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

views influenced his social democratic politics.

Family

Henry Kneebone (1876–1933) married Henrietta Whitta (1875 – 17 January 1951) on 4 November 1903; they lived in Jellicoe Avenue, Kings Park. Their children included: *Harry William Kneebone (1904–) married Dorothy Hollow of Tusmore on 17 March 1928 * Alfred Francis "Frank" Kneebone (1905–) Frank was elected State Secretary of the Printers Union in 1951. He was a member of the

Legislative Council of South Australia The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Parli ...

from 1961 to 1975 *(Elizabeth) Thelma Kneebone (1907–) married Paul Mills of Unley Park on 29 June 1944 *Ethelwyn "Wyn" Kneebone (1909–) married Ern Dickason of Hawthorn ca.1945 *Joan Adelaide Kneebone (1916–) married Newton S. Tiver of Beachport ca.1944

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneebone, Harry Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian journalists Australian newspaper editors Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian Senate Australian people of Cornish descent 1876 births 1933 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians Members of the South Australian House of Assembly