John Keith McDougall (10 August 1867 – 11 April 1957), also known as J. K. McDougall, was an Australian politician, poet and

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

activist.

Early life

McDougall was born at

Learmonth, Victoria Learmonth is a picturesque township, located in Central Victoria, Australia, west of the state capital Melbourne, and 23 kilometres north west of the regional city centre of Ballarat. Learmonth is located on the Sunraysia Highway, on the ro ...

to farmer Donald McDougall and Margaret, née Keith. He attended

Rossbridge ''Rossbridge'' is a town in the north west region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is approximately west of the state's capital, Melbourne. Rossbridge has a population of 27, as of the 2021 Census of Australia, Census. Establi ...

Common School but left school at the age of 13 to assist on the family farm. His education continued informally, however, and began to develop an interest in politics, having rejected the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

ministry.

Politics

McDougall joined the Ararat branch of the Political Labor Council in 1903, becoming president in 1904. He stood twice for Ararat Shire Council, succeeding in 1904. In

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

he was elected to 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 ...

for the seat of Wannon after a successful campaign targeting the anti-union leanings of the

Anti-Socialist Criticism of socialism (also known as anti-socialism) is any critique of socialist models of economic organization and their feasibility as well as the political and social implications of adopting such a system. Some critiques are not directed ...

sitting member, Arthur Robinson. He rarely spoke in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, but did considerable work for his constituency. McDougall also became associated with

King O'Malley King O'Malley (2 July 1858? – 20 December 1953) was an American-born Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1917, and served two terms as Minister for Home Affairs (1910–1913; 1915–16). He is remember ...

and his group of Labor members. McDougall was defeated in Wannon in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

, largely due to a general swing against Labor and a redistribution, and returned to his farm, running unsuccessfully for

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

in 1914 and

Grampians The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

in 1915 and 1917.

Later life

McDougall was a prolific contributor to Labor press, denouncing

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

as well as those Labor members of whom he disapproved, including

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...

Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in ...

James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

and

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...

. Many of these contributions were submitted in verse; five books of McDougall's verse were published, including ''The trend of the ages'' and ''Grass and gossamer, and other verses'' (1930). McDougall's poem ''The White Man's Burden'', which denounced

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, was used by the Nationalist Party in the 1919 election as evidence of Labor's contempt for servicemen. Six returned servicemen, stirred by this rhetoric, lured McDougall from his home and left him in an Ararat street having been

tarred and feathered Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a t ...

. The poem had been written in 1902. On 3 March 1908 at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, McDougall had married Margaret Ellen McGennisken, who died in 1952. McDougall retired subsequently to write his memoirs, dying at Ararat on 11 April 1957, survived by two sons and a daughter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, John 1867 births 1957 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Wannon Australian poets 20th-century Australian politicians