James Garfield Bayley (26 March 1882 – 14 January 1968) was an Australian politician. He was a Nationalist Party member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

from 1917 to 1931 and a Country and Progressive National Party member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1933 to 1935.

Early life and teaching career

Bayley was born in Franklin, Tasmania and was educated at Leichhardt Superior Public School 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 ...

, but moved with his family to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1895, where he won a scholarship to attend

Brisbane Grammar School , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ci ...

. He did his teacher training at South Brisbane and was transferred to Toowoomba as an assistant teacher before resigning from the Education Department in 1904 to further his studies in the United States. He received a diploma from the California State Teachers Training College at San Jose and became principal of a school in Fresno County in central

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

before resigning to attend

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. He returned to Australia and was appointed principal at

Charters Towers State High School Charters Towers State High School (CTSHS) is a public high school in Charters Towers City, Charters Towers, Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Aust ...

in December 1911. He unsuccessfully contested Oxley at the 1914 federal election.

Political career

In 1917, Bayley was elected to the

as 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 ...

member for

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia **Oxley railway station, Brisbane ...

. In federal parliament, he was a member of the Joint Committee on Public Accounts from 1920 to 1926 and its chairman from 1923 to 1926. He was chairman of committees from 1926 to 1929 and then

opposition whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

and secretary of the Nationalist Party from 1929 until his 1931 defeat. He lost his seat to a Labor candidate at the 1931 federal election. He was then elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

in a May 1933 by-election following the death of Country and Progressive National Party MP Walter Barnes, retaining the seat for the party. However, he was defeated at the 1935 state election. In January 1936, he was appointed secretary to the Northern Australia Geophysical and Geological Survey for a two-year period. In 1936, he unsuccessfully contested United Australia Party preselection for the Darling Downs federal by-election that year and for the Senate at the 1937 federal election. In 1943, he unsuccessfully contested the 1943 federal election as an independent in the New South Wales seat of Newcastle, during which time he listed his occupation as "retired".

Later life

In 1941, he was appointed to the role of Press Censorship Authority by the Menzies government. In 1947, Bayley was appointed Commonwealth Appeal Censor, having what was essentially the final say on appeals from the Film Censorship Board. He held the role until 1956. As Appeal Censor, he confirmed the ban on

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

's film '' The Miracle'', but overturned a ban on the film adaptation of the Chinese play '' The White Haired Girl'' as long as "politically objectionable" scenes were removed.

Personal life

Bayley died in 1968 in

. His sister,

Irene Longman Irene Maud Longman (; 24 April 1877 – 29 July 1964) was an Australian community worker and politician. She was Women and government in Australia, the first woman elected to the Parliament of Queensland, representing the Queensland Legislative ...

, was the first woman to be elected to the Queensland Parliament, while his brother,

Percy Bayley Percy Mollineux Bayley (21 December 1879Bayley,Percy Mollin ...

, was also a state MP for Pittsworth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayley, James Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Oxley Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1882 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians United Australia Party members of the Parliament of Australia