John Michael Adrenne Cunningham (25 April 1912 – 29 July 1996) was an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1948 to 1954 and again from 1955 to 1962. He also served as mayor of

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

from 1954 to 1955.

Early life

Cunningham was born in Boulder, Western Australia, to Alice Frances (née Oaklands) and John Edmond Cunningham. His father died when he was eight, and he moved to Perth to live with his grandmother. After leaving school, Cunningham worked a number of odd jobs, spending periods as a printer's devil, delivery boy,

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...

, and miner (at Meekatharra). He eventually became a certified boiler attendant and engine driver, and worked on the railway at Mount Isa, Queensland. Cunningham enlisted in the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) in September 1942, and served in the South-West Pacific theatre (including in New Guinea) as a radar operator and hygiene officer.John Michael Adrenne Cunningham
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 28 December 2016.

Politics

Cunningham returned to Boulder after his military service, and in 1947 was elected to the Boulder Municipal Council. He served on the council until 1955, including as mayor from 1954 to 1955. Cunningham entered parliament at the 1948 Legislative Council elections, standing in South Province. After a reconstitution, he was appointed to

South-East Province The South-East Province was an electoral region of the Western Australian Legislative Council, introduced after the introduction of responsible government in the 1890s. It initially comprised Williams, Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet ( ...

in 1950, but was defeated by Labor's Jim Garrigan in 1954. Cunningham re-entered the Legislative Council just over a year later, at a by-election following the death of Robert Boylen. He was re-elected in 1956, but in 1962 lost his seat to Labor's

Claude Stubbs Robert Henry Claude Stubbs (2 April 1905 – 25 May 1998) was an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia from 1962 to 1980, representing South-East Province. He served as a minister in ...

. He made an unsuccessful attempt to reclaim his seat at the 1965 state election.

Later life

After leaving parliament, Cunningham bought a news agency in Boulder. He sold that in 1965, and then worked for periods for Western Mining and Hendry, Rae and Court (an accounting firm). Cunningham died in Perth in July 1996, aged 84. He had married Elva May Alcock in 1939, with whom he had two children, but was widowed in 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, John 1912 births 1996 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People from Boulder, Western Australia Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Western Australian local councillors