James Laurence Murphy (c. 1860 – 17 February 1942) was an Irish-born Australian politician. Murphy was born in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

to farmer Laurence Murphy and Mary Flynn. In the early 1880s he migrated to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and worked as a traveller before becoming a cordial manufacturer in the early 1890s, after going into partnership with cordial manufacturer Joseph Plummer as Plummer, Murphy & Co. On 11 January 1892 he married schoolteacher Margaret O'Flaherty. A member of the Labor Party, he served on South Melbourne City Council from 1904 to 1942, and was mayor from 1910 to 1911. He was South Melbourne representative on the Harbour Trust from 1910 to 1913. In 1917 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...

after successfully challenging incumbent MP Owen Sinclair for Labor preselection, and represented the seat until his death. He was credited with key roles in the establishment of the Fair Rents Court, having repeatedly tried to introduce a private member's bill for many years prior to its adoption by his government, as well as in the development of housing at

Fishermans Bend Fishermans Bend (formerly Fishermen's Bend) is a precinct within the City of Port Phillip and the City of Melbourne. It is located on the south of the Yarra River in the suburb of Port Melbourne and opposite Coode Island, close to the Melbourne ...

. Alongside his parliamentary role, he was a member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board from 1940 to his death and its chairman in 1941. He died at his South Melbourne home in February 1942 after a short illness, and was buried at

Melbourne General Cemetery The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North. The cemetery is notably the resting place of four Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other nec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, James Laurence 1860 births 1942 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly