John Boyland (11 September 1874 – 14 December 1922) was an Australian trade unionist and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1921 until his death, representing the seat of Kalgoorlie. Boyland was born in

Sandhurst, Victoria Sandhurst is an official bounded locality in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 37 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Sandhurst recorded a population of 5,211 a ...

, to Jane (née Duncan) and John Boyland. He left school at an early age and eventually found his way to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, where he was involved in the 1891 shearer's strike. Boyland arrived in Western Australia in 1895, during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

, and worked as an underground miner for periods in

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

and

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

. He eventually became involved in the union movement, serving as an official for local branches of miners' unions and

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gene ...

s. Following the 1916 Labor Party split over the issue of conscription, Boyland joined the new

National Labor Party The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pri ...

.John Boyland
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 8 October 2016. He stood for parliament at the 1917 state election, but was defeated by

John Lutey John Thomas Lutey (18 December 1876 – 22 June 1932) was the Labor Party member for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Brownhill-Ivanhoe from 1917 to 1932. John Lutey was born on 18 December 1876 at Eaglehawk near Bendigo in ...

in the seat of Brownhill-Ivanhoe. At the 1921 election, Boyland ran in Kalgoorlie as an "independent

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 ...

" candidate, and defeated the sitting Labor member, Albert Green. However, he died in office in December 1922, succumbing to miner's phthisis."MR. JOHN BOYLAND, M.L.A."
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 16 December 1922. He had married Bertha Bridger in 1906, with whom he had three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyland, John 1874 births 1922 deaths Australian miners Deaths from lung disease Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly National Labor Party politicians People from Bendigo Trade unionists from Perth, Western Australia