John Arthur Perkins (18 May 1878 – 13 July 1954) was an Australian newsagent, bookseller and 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 1926 to 1943, representing the seat of Eden-Monaro for the

Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Mini ...

and its successor the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

. He was a minister in the governments of

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 ...

and

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

Early life and state politics

Perkins was born at Gocup near

Tumut, New South Wales Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...

, and educated at Tumut Public School and Cooma Public School. He was a small farmer at

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a ...

from 1894 to 1899, when he leased the property and became a newsagent, bookseller and stationer in Cooma. He was a Municipality of Cooma councillor from 1902 to 1909 and was Mayor of Cooma in 1904 and 1908. He was also president of the Cooma School of Arts, president of the Parents' and Citizens' Association, a justice of the peace, the local coroner, a director of the Monaro Grammar School, a member of the local land board and Grand Master of the

Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

. Perkins was an unsuccessful candidate for 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 ...

seat of Monaro in 1904 and in 1907. He married Evelyn Mary Bray in 1909. He was appointed to a casual vacancy for the

seat of

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

in November 1921 following the death of Nationalist MP William Millard. As the countback method used to fill vacancies under the 1920-1927

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

experiment (in which each seat had multiple members) was unable to fill the seat, the legislation was changed to allow for him to fill Millard's seat by appointment. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly in January 1926 upon his winning Nationalist Party preselection to contest a federal by-election for the seat of Eden-Monaro.

Federal parliamentary career

In January 1926 Perkins won the Federal seat of Eden-Monaro at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. He lost the seat in 1929 to

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 la ...

John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...

amid that year's massive Labor landslide. However, Perkins retook the seat in 1931 amid an equally massive landslide for the UAP (Cusack did not stand in that election). He was government whip from 1926 to 1929 and was appointed

Minister for the Interior Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

in the

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

government in October 1932, responsible among other things for administering the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. The anthropologist, A. P. Elkin congratulated him on his efforts "to make inter-racial conditions in the North more equable and more just". Nevertheless, criticism of Australia's treatment of

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

in the

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press led Lyons to drop him from

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in 1934. He was minister without portfolio from November 1937 to November 1938, Minister in charge of Territories for two days in November 1938 and then Minister for Trade and Customs until April 1939, when he became Minister without portfolio administering External Territories until March 1940. He was defeated by Allan Fraser in the 1943 elections.

Later life

Perkins spent the last ten years of his life researching the history of the Monaro region, with some of his records being donated to the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...

upon his death. He died in 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 ...

suburb of Manly in 1954, and was accorded a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

; he was cremated.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, John 1878 births 1954 deaths Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia United Australia 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 Australian booksellers