Joseph Herbert Gander (1888 – 22 November 1954) was an Australian politician. He was a 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 1931 to 1940, representing the

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 ...

-based seat of

Reid Reid is a surname of Scottish origin. It means "red". People with the surname * Alan Reid (disambiguation) * Alex Reid (disambiguation), includes Alexander Reid * Amanda Reid, Australian Paralympic athlete * Amanda Reid (taxonomist), Australia ...

for the first Lang Labor (1931–1936), the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(1936–1940) and the second Lang Labor (1940). Gander was born in the regional town of

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

and educated at Wellington Public School. Prior to entering politics, he was a billiard marker in a saloon and was a

Municipality of Newtown The Municipality of Newtown was a local government area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The municipality was proclaimed as a borough in 1862 and, with an area of 1.9 square kilometres, was centred on the suburb of Newtown, including parts ...

councillor for Camden Ward from 1929 until 1931, when both Gander and fellow Jack Lang supporter

Lilian Fowler Elizabeth Lilian Maud Fowler MBE, JP (; 7 June 1886 – 11 May 1954) was an Australian politician. She was Australia's first female mayor, serving as mayor of Newtown, New South Wales, from 1937 to 1939. She later represented the seat of Newto ...

lost Labor preselection to recontest their seats in the early stages of the 1931 Labor split. He was also the president of the Pony Owners' and Trainers' Association and a successful grade cricketer. In 1931, he was elected to the

as the member for

for the splinter Lang Labor party, defeating incumbent Labor MP

Percy Coleman Percy Edmund Creed Coleman (23 October 1892 – 25 May 1934) was an Australian union organiser and politician. Born at Surry Hills in Sydney to Thomas Coleman and Ellen, née Creed, Coleman was orphaned when still a young child and, after ...

. Gander was widely viewed as a "seat-warmer" for Lang should he choose to enter federal politics, but this never occurred during Gander's time in office. He was the Lang Labor whip for four years. In March 1936, Lang Labor merged back into the official Labor Party, and Gander with it. In 1940, the Labor Party split again, and Gander was among the members to join the second Lang Labor split, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), resuming his old position as whip of the splinter party. However, he was defeated in the election of that year by the federal Labor candidate, Charles Morgan. Following his political defeat, he was appointed as a federal industrial investigator to police industrial awards in August 1940. He was accepted back into the official Labor Party in 1946. He was also a successful billiards player. Gander made a late attempt to return to politics in 1953, seeking Labor preselection for a seat on the City of Sydney council. Gander died suddenly at his home in Enmore in November 1954 and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery.

References

Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Lang Labor members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Reid Members of the Australian House of Representatives 1888 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub