Maurice McCrae Blackburn (19 November 1880 – 31 March 1944) was an Australian politician and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

lawyer, noted for his protection of the interests of workers and the establishment of the legal firm known as Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

Biography

Blackburn was born in Inglewood,

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 ...

, to Maurice Blackburn, a bank manager, and his wife Thomasann Cole (née McCrae), daughter of Captain Alexander McCrae. Following the death of his father in 1887, Blackburn and his mother moved to Melbourne where he was educated at

Melbourne Grammar School (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denominatio ...

matriculating Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

in 1896. He attended the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, graduating in arts and law in 1909, and began to practise as a lawyer a year later. In the same year, he also became a member of the

Victorian Socialist Party The Victorian Socialist Party (VSP) was a socialist political party in the Australian state of Victoria during the early 20th century. Most VSP members were also members of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), or later became members. A faction ...

and was soon editing its newspaper, ''The Socialist''. Later, in about 1908, he joined 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 the f ...

. Blackburn married Doris Amelia Hordern on 10 December 1914. Two weeks earlier he had entered the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

as the Labor member for the

Electoral district of Essendon The electoral district of Essendon is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It was first created in 1904 after the abolition of the larger Essendon and Flemington electorate, and covers some of the north-western suburbs o ...

, but lost his seat in 1917, due largely to his strong anti-war and anti-

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

stances. He returned to practising law, establishing the firm Maurice Blackburn & Co. in 1919, dealing primarily in trade union law and civil liberties cases. During his time practising law, Blackburn won cases that played a key role in establishing rights most Australians now take for granted, including the 40-hour working week, wage equality for indigenous workers, and equal pay for women. Blackburn made his mark on Australian politics in 1921 when he led a successful move to have the socialisation of the means of production added to Labor's official platform (which became known as the "socialist objective"). Returning to state Parliament as the member for Fitzroy in a 1925 by-election, Blackburn introduced legislation aimed at removing discrimination against women, and opposed what he saw as repressive economic measures proposed during the depression. In 1933, he was elected

Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria. The presiding officer of the upper house of the Parliament of Victoria, the Victorian ...

, but resigned from the Assembly in 1934, so he could contest the Federal seat of Bourke, based on the suburbs of Brunswick and

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Although he won Bourke and held it until 1943, his relationship with the Labor Party was chequered. In late 1934 and early 1935, Blackburn acted as legal counsel to prevent the deportation of the noted Czech anti-Fascist

Egon Kisch Egon Erwin Kisch (29 April 1885 – 31 March 1948) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak writer and journalist, who wrote in German. He styled himself ''Der Rasende Reporter'' (The Raging Reporter) for his countless travels to the far corners of the ...

. In October 1935, he voted in favour of sanctions against Italy over the

Abyssinian crisis The Abyssinia Crisis (; ) was an international crisis in 1935 that originated in what was called the Walwal incident during the ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia (then commonly known as "Abyssinia"). The Lea ...

, defying his leader

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...

. Blackburn's support for international socialism, and his opposition to conscription, frequently caused him to take positions opposed to Labor policy and, in October 1935, he was expelled over his membership of the

Movement Against War and Fascism The Movement Against War and Fascism (MAWF) was founded in Australia in 1933, as an Australian chapter of the World Movement Against War established in 1932 by the Comintern. The international movement was instigated by Willi Münzenberg the Ge ...

. He was soon re-admitted to the ALP, but expelled again in 1941 for his support of the Australia-Soviet Friendship League. His expulsion was seen as a warning to other left-wing MPs that violation of party policy was not to be tolerated. Blackburn continued to serve as the member for Bourke as an

independent 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 * Independ ...

, voting against the Labor government's conscription bill, but he lost his seat at the 1943 election to the official Labor candidate. Blackburn died of cerebral tumour on 31 March 1944, in

Prahran, Victoria Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a po ...

, and was buried in

Box Hill Cemetery Box Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Melbourne's eastern suburb of Box Hill, Victoria in Australia. It currently occupies 12.5 ha (31 acres). It is known as the resting place of notable figures from Melbourne and its heritage-registered Co ...

, survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, and his mother. His estate, which included a fine library, was sworn for probate at £2,552. In a eulogy, Australian Prime Minister

referred to Blackburn as "one of the great servants of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia". His widow, Doris, won Bourke as an Independent Labour candidate at the 1946 election and spent much of her time in Parliament promoting similar policies to those that Blackburn had supported.

References

External links

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers history of Maurice Blackburn
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackburn, Maurice 1880 births 1944 deaths Australian Anglicans Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian socialists Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Spouses of Australian politicians 20th-century Australian lawyers Victoria (Australia) state politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bourke Speakers of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Melbourne Law School alumni Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Burials at Box Hill Cemetery People from Inglewood, Victoria 20th-century Australian politicians