Joseph Peter Gardiner (4 July 1886 – 23 January 1965) was the Labor Party member for the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

seat of Roebourne from 1911 to 1915. His sudden and still unexplained departure from

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 ...

in 1915 was an important factor in the collapse of

John Scaddan John Scaddan, CMG (4 August 1876 – 21 November 1934), popularly known as "Happy Jack", was Premier of Western Australia from 7 October 1911 until 27 July 1916. Early life John Scaddan was born in Moonta, South Australia, into a Cornish A ...

's Labor government.compare this with Findlay, Len (2008) ''Left, said Fred'', West Weekend Magazine, 15 March 2008, p. 8 - and Fred Riebeling's comments re this event

Early life

Joseph Peter Gardiner was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on 4 July 1886. He was educated at the Christian Brothers College in that city, and was then apprenticed to his bootmaker father in West Perth. Later he went to the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a g ...

region, where he traded on the coast between Cossack and Broome. He was secretary of the Miners' Union at

Whim Creek Whim may refer to: * Whim, U.S. Virgin Islands, a settlement * Whim (mining), a capstan or drum with a vertical axle used in mining * Whim (carriage), a type of carriage * ''Whim'', a reissue of ''Adventures of Wim'', a book by George Cockroft as ...

, and from 1910 to 1912 was manager of the Weld Hotel in Cossack.

Political career

On 31 October 1911, Gardiner was elected to the

seat of Roebourne. In 1913 and 1914 he lived in West Perth, and was secretary of the Bootmakers' Union. In May 1914, Gardiner secretly married

May Holman Mary Alice "May" Holman (18 July 1893 – 20 March 1939) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1925 until her death in 1939. She was th ...

at the Perth Registry Office, but the marriage was never consummated and a divorce was finalised in 1920. Shortly after the marriage, Gardiner left the State, never to return. After an extended absence from Parliament, inquiries were eventually made as to his whereabouts. When it was learned that he had left the State, Gardiner's seat was declared vacant on 30 September 1915, on the grounds of non-attendance. The Labor Party did not retain the seat in the subsequent

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 ...

, and its majority of two was erased. Shortly afterwards, another Labor member resigned, and

's government was defeated.

Later life

Little is known of the rest of Gardiner's life. After he left Western Australia, Gardiner went to South Australia, then to Victoria where he enlisted in early 1916. He was working as a labourer in Adelaide in 1922, and in June of that year, he married Bertha Annie Paver. He subsequently worked at various occupations while living for many years in Melbourne, Victoria. From 1932, he lived at Bentleigh, Victoria. He was listed on the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

n electoral rolls as a "journalist" when he died on 23 January 1965.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardiner, Joseph 1886 births 1965 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Businesspeople from Adelaide Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 20th-century Australian politicians