Sir Norbert Michael Keenan QC (30 January 1864 – 24 April 1954) was an Australian lawyer and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of

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 ...

from 1905 to 1911 and again from 1930 to 1950. He was the leader of the Nationalist Party from 1933 to 1938, during the time when it was the junior partner in the coalition with the Country Party. Keenan had earlier served as a minister in the government of

Newton Moore Major General Sir Newton James Moore, (17 May 1870 – 28 October 1936) was an Australian politician, businessman and army officer. He served as the eighth Premier of Western Australia from 1906 to 1910 and, following service in the First World ...

(as

attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

) and the second government of Sir James Mitchell.

Early life

Keenan was born in

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home t ...

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

, Ireland, to Elizabeth Agnes (née Quin) and Sir Patrick Joseph Keenan. His father was an educationalist and a member of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

. Keenan was sent to

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Originall ...

(in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England) for his secondary schooling, and then studied law at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. He was admitted to

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

in 1890, allowing him to practise as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in Ireland, and was later also admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, allowing him to practise as a barrister in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

.Norbert Michael Keenan
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 15 June 2016. Keenan emigrated to Western Australia in April 1895, and settled in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, where he represented the interests of British investors on the

Eastern Goldfields The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth. Extent and name origin The region encompasses the town ...

. In June 1901, he was elected Mayor of Kalgoorlie, replacing

Staniforth Smith Miles Staniforth Cater Smith, (25 February 1869 – 14 January 1934) was an Australian politician, public servant and explorer. He served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1901 to 1906 and was later a senior public servant in the Ter ...

. He served in the position until December 1905, resigning to concentrate on state politics.

Political career

At the 1904 state election, Keenan unsuccessfully contested the seat of Kalgoorlie 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 ...

, losing to the sitting

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 ...

member,

William Dartnell Johnson William Dartnell Johnson (9 October 1870 – 26 January 1948) was an Australian politician who was prominent in state politics in Western Australia for most of the first half of the 20th century. A member of the Labor Party, he served in the L ...

. He reversed the result at the 1905 election, standing as a Ministerialist (a supporter of the government of

Hector Rason Sir Cornthwaite Hector William James Rason (18 June 1858 – 15 March 1927), better known as Hector Rason, was the seventh Premier of Western Australia. Early life Rason was born in Cleeve, Somerset, in England on 18 June 1858. He was the son ...

). When

replaced Rason as

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

in May 1906, he chose Keenan to be his

. While in office, he chaired a Legislative Assembly select committee into Western Australia's electoral system, which recommended that the state adopt

preferential voting {{short description, Election systems Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...

and make various other changes. Credit for the resulting piece of legislation, the ''Electoral Act 1907'', was largely given to Keenan, and the act is still in force. As a senior member of the government, Keenan also represented Western Australia at the 1907 Premiers' Conference. He resigned as attorney-general in May 1909, due to disagreements with the government's financial policies. Keenan did not contest the 1911 state election, with his seat being lost to Albert Green of the Labor Party. He concentrated on his law practice, having been made

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(KC) in 1908, and also served on the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

(UWA) from 1912 to 1918. After a gap of over 18 years, Keenan re-entered parliament at the 1930 state election, winning the newly created seat of Nedlands for the Nationalist Party. Just eleven days after being elected, he was included in the new ministry formed by Sir James Mitchell, taking the positions of Chief Secretary and Minister for Education. While in charge of the Education Department, Keenan made the unpopular decision to close

Claremont Teachers College Claremont Teachers College was Western Australia’s first post-secondary teaching institution. It opened in 1902 and closed in 1981, when it became a College of Advanced Education and later a campus of Edith Cowan University. The building is on ...

indefinitely, to save money during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. He resigned from cabinet in September 1931, due to a dispute over government policy. At the 1933 state election, the Mitchell government was defeated, with Mitchell and the two other Nationalist ministers (

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 ...

and

Hubert Parker Hubert Stanley Wyborn Parker DSO VD (16 October 1883—26 July 1966) was an Australian politician who represented the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of North-East Fremantle from 1930 until 1933, and one of the three Legisla ...

) losing their seats. As he was the only remaining Nationalist in parliament with ministerial experience, a post-election party-room meeting elected Keenan as the new leader. The Nationalists had lost so many seats that they became the junior partners in the coalition with the Country Party, with the Country Party's leader, Charles Latham, serving as

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

. Keenan's party failed to make any improvement at the 1936 election, and he resigned as leader in April 1938 in favour of

Ross McDonald Sir Robert Ross McDonald QC (25 January 1888 – 25 March 1964) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1933 to 1950, representing the seat of West Perth. He served as leader of the ...

. His age (74) and health were factors in his resignation. Keenan was opposed by

Dorothy Tangney Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney DBE (13 March 19073 June 1985) was an Australian politician. She was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served as a Senator for Western Australia from 1943 to 1968. She was the first woman elected to ...

, a future Labor senator, at the 1936 and 1939 elections, but retained his seat easily on both occasions. At the

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

and 1947 elections, he did likewise, facing only independents as opponents. He had affiliated with the new

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

upon its creation in 1945. Aged 86 at the time of the 1950 election, Keenan was opposed in Nedlands by three other candidates. He and one other candidate were endorsed by the Liberal Party, while the two others ran as unendorsed Liberals. Keenan polled only 23.3 percent of the first-preference vote, which was not enough to make the final

two-candidate-preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

count, and the eventual victor was

David Grayden David Grayden ( Ives; 25 May 1924 – 9 June 2003) was an Australian politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1950 to 1953, representing the seat of Nedlands. Grayden was born in Perth to Ethel May (n� ...

, a 25-year-old leader of the party's youth wing.

Personal life

Keenan died in Perth in April 1954, aged 90. He had married Rose Elizabeth Parker in 1900, with whom he had two children. Her father was Sir

Stephen Henry Parker Sir Stephen Henry Parker (7 November 1846 – 13 December 1927) was a lawyer and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1906 to 1914. Biography Early life Stephen Henry Parker was the second son of Stephen Stanley Park ...

, who was

Chief Justice of Western Australia The Chief Justice of Western Australia is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Western Australia. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Su ...

from 1906 to 1914, and her uncle was

George Leake George Leake (3 December 1856 – 24 June 1902) was the third Premier of Western Australia, serving from May to November 1901 and then again from December 1901 to his death. Leake was born in Perth, into a prominent local family. Studying l ...

, who was

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

on two occasions. One of Keenan's brothers-in-law was Thomas Percy Draper (attorney-general from 1919 to 1921), who married his wife's sister.Thomas Percy Draper
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 14 May 2016. Keenan was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Notes

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Keenan, Norbert 1864 births 1954 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Attorneys-General of Western Australia Australian barristers Australian Knights Bachelor Australian King's Counsel Australian Roman Catholics Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery English barristers Irish barristers Irish emigrants to colonial Australia Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia People educated at Downside School Lawyers from Dublin (city) 19th-century Irish lawyers 19th-century Australian lawyers 20th-century Australian lawyers 20th-century Australian politicians Alumni of King's Inns