James Leo Geraghty (1896 – 27 June 1960) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

from 1941 until 1953. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP) until 1950 and then sat as an Independent Labor member.

Early life

Geraghty was born in

Parramatta, New South Wales Parramatta () is a suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta Riv ...

. He was the son of a railway porter, and was educated at

Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham , motto_translation = A crown to the one who strives , established = , type = Private comprehensive single-sex secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = Christian Brothers , principa ...

. He worked as a railway engineer and hotel manager and owned substantial suburban property.

State parliament

Geraghty was elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the Labor member for the seat of North Sydney at the 1941 state election. He defeated the sitting

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

member,

Hubert Primrose Hubert Leslie Primrose (14 November 1882 – 26 November 1942) was an Australian politician. Early life He was born at Cootamundra to public servant Charles Herman Burton Primrose and Sarah Maria, ''née'' Clissold. After a private educatio ...

. Geraghty retained the seat for the Labor Party at the next 2 elections.

Expulsion from the Labor Party

In November 1949,

Jim Harrison James Harrison (December 11, 1937 – March 26, 2016) was an American poet, novelist, and essayist. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, children’s ...

resigned from the Legislative Council to successfully contest the federal seat of Blaxland at the 1949 election. His successor was due to be elected at a joint sitting of the two houses of parliament on 22 March 1950. While the election was by secret ballot, each Labor member of the parliament had a unique how- to-vote card and Labor scrutineers were able to determine if a member had broken caucus solidarity and voted against the endorsed Labor candidate. On the day of the election, Mr Asher Joel, a wealthy Sydney businessman was a surprise nomination against Labor's Mr James Thom. Joel was unsuccessful but received 23 votes and it became common knowledge within the Labor Party, although never officially stated, that 4 members of the party; Geraghty, John Seiffert ( Monaro),

Roy Heferen Stephen Roy Heferen (2 June 1898 – 9 June 1961) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until 1950. During his parliamentary career he was a member of the Labor Party (ALP) but sat ...

( Barwon), Fred Stanley ( Lakemba) had voted for him. There were also unproven rumours that they had received cash payments for their votes. The state executive of the Labor Party responded by withholding the endorsement for these candidates at the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

election. Geraghty and the other disendorsed members received support from the Caucus and a severe rift developed between the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties. This was a major contribution to Labor's poor showing at the election.. Geraghty successfully defended the seat as an Independent Labor candidate against Ray Maher the endorsed Labor candidate and was automatically expelled from the party. He lost the seat to Maher at the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

election.

References

* 1896 births 1960 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-NewSouthWales-MP-stub