James Morton Toomey (28 November 1862 – 1 April 1920) was an Australian trade unionist.

Political and unionist career

Born at Gribbin Station near

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

to superintendent James Henry Toomey and Sarah Jane Morton, Toomey helped found the Wagga Wagga Shearers' Union in 1886. In 1888 he moved to

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

and was elected first secretary of the local branch of the Shearers' Union; he also established local branches of the Amalgamated Miners' Association and the District Carriers' Union, and a local trades and labour council composed solely of his three unions. A conference he organised resulted in the first specific agreement between shearers and pastoralists. His cooperation with the pastoralists' unions played a part in preventing the spread of the 1891 shearers' strike into New South Wales. A significant part in the organisation of the early Labor Party, he worked tirelessly for a united party at the 1894 election. Although he would have had a strong chance of winning

, he persuaded

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 ...

to run for that seat and instead contested

Boorowa Boorowa () is a farming village in the Hilltops Council, Hilltops Region in the South West Slopes, south west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in a valley southwest of Sydney around above sea-level. The town is in Hilltop ...

and was defeated. Subsequently his influence declined, and the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...

abolished the Young branch in 1896 to cut costs. Toomey felt abandoned and bitter, and his only subsequent union involvement was as a delegate to the AWU conferences in 1898 and 1899 from

Creswick Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the 2016 census, Creswick had a populatio ...

. He returned to Young and ran unsuccessfully for the first federal parliament, contesting East Sydney.

Latter career

Declared bankrupt in 1905, he married Elizabeth Mary Post on 26 December 1906 and became an accountant and paymaster on the northern coalfields. Having been dismissed after he supported striking miners, he worked as a traveller until his death of chronic

nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation of th ...

at Lambton in 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toomey, James 1862 births 1920 deaths Australian trade unionists Deaths from nephritis