John Joseph Cusack (8 August 1868 – 8 September 1956) was an Australian politician and businessman. He was a member of 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 t ...

(ALP) for most of his career and served in 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 ...

(1910–1917) and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

(1929–1931).

Early life

Cusack was born at Bellevale near

Yass, New South Wales Yass () is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Council. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" (or "Yharr"), said to mean 'running water'. Yass is located 280 km ...

and had some schooling in Yass. He was apprenticed at 15 to a blacksmith at Berrima. He learnt about coachbuilding in Sydney and returned to Yass in 1898 to marry Minnie Cassidy and start a coachbuilding business. He was elected to Yass Municipal Council and was mayor in 1904.

Parliamentary career

Cusack established a branch of the Labor League (the predecessor of the Labor Party) in Yass in the 1890s. He represented Queanbeyan from 1910 to 1913, and

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

from 1913 to 1917 in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Legislative Assembly. He was one of only four Labor members to hold the seat of Albury. Following the ALP split of 1916, he was expelled from the party for failing to support a no-confidence motion against the new government formed by ALP defector

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the split o ...

. However, he was later readmitted. In 1929, Cusack was elected to the

for Eden-Monaro, surviving a petition by his defeated opponent John Perkins. He attempted to switch to Cowper at the 1931 election but was defeated by

Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 188020 December 1961) was an Australian surgeon and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office for 19 days after the death of Joseph Lyons in 1939. He was the leade ...

. He stood unsuccessfully for several state elections up to 1953, when he failed, at age 80, as an Independent, to unseat the sitting Labor member for Burrinjuck, Billy Sheahan. After the election, Cusack accused Sheahan, then NSW Attorney General, of "assist nga masonic vendetta" against him. In 1954, as a vigorous, though erratic, 85-year old, he contested the federal lower-house seat of

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

. He received around 3% of

first preference votes In certain ranked-voting systems, a first-preference vote (or first preference, 1st preference, or primary vote) is the individual voter's first choice amongst (possibly) many. In certain ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Voting or Single T ...

and lost his deposit.

Later life

After his earlier electoral defeats, Cusack returned to his work as a blacksmith in Yass. He died in the old Canberra Hospital and was survived by his wife, three sons (Linton, Stan and Greg) and a daughter (Ursula). His son Stan established a successful furniture business in Canberra, following the development of the area as the

Dymphna Cusack Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM (21 September 1902 – 19 October 1981) was an Australian writer and playwright. Personal life Born in Wyalong, New South Wales, Cusack was educated at Saint Ursula's College, Armidale, New South Wales and graduated f ...

was his niece. His great-granddaughter

Catherine Cusack Catherine Cusack (born 21 December 1968) is a British actress. She is best known for portraying Nanny Carmel Finnan in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' in 1992 and 1993. Early life and career Cusack was born on 21 Decemb ...

was elected as a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in 2003.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, John 1868 births 1956 deaths Coachbuilders of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Eden-Monaro Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians