Raphael (Ray) Septimus Maher (1 April 1911 – 22 September 1966) was an Australian politician. He was a member of 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 ...

from 1953 until 1965 and a member of the Labor Party (ALP). Maher was the

Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is Jonathan O'Dea, who was elected on 7 May 2019. Traditionally a ...

between 1959 and 1965.

Early life

Maher was born in

Grenfell, New South Wales Grenfell is a town in Weddin Shire in the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of Sydney. It is close to Forbes, Cowra and Young. At the 2011 census, Grenfell had a population of 1,996. The town is served daily by conne ...

. He was the son of a union organizer and was educated at

De La Salle College Ashfield (Used in context as "to be the best man you can be." If translated directly from Latin it means "Be a man") , established = , type = Independent, comprehensive, single-sex school, secondary school, day school , denomi ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1944 but gave up plans to study law to become a concrete contractor. He joined the Labor Party in 1927 and was a member of 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 ...

State Parliament

Maher failed in his first three attempts to be elected to the parliament. At the

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

state election, Maher, the

Lang Labor Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939. Following the expulsion of the N ...

candidate was defeated by the sitting Country Party member

Matthew Kilpatrick Matthew Kilpatrick (8 December 1873 – 13 January 1949) was an Australian politician. He was born in County Donegal in Ireland, the son of farmer Thomas Kilpatrick and Esther, ''née'' Wilson. He arrived in Victoria in July 1874 and quick ...

in the seat of

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 ...

. At the following election in

1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...

, Maher had moved to Sydney and was defeated in the seat of

Drummoyne Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative center for the local government area of the City of ...

by 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 ...

incumbent member,

John Lee John Lee may refer to: Academia * John Lee (astronomer) (1783–1866), president of the Royal Astronomical Society * John Lee (university principal) (1779–1859), University of Edinburgh principal * John Lee (pathologist) (born 1961), English ...

. After a 12-year gap he was the endorsed Labor candidate for North Sydney at the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

election but was defeated by the incumbent Independent Labor member

James Geraghty James Leo Geraghty (1896 – 27 June 1960) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until 1953. He was a member of the Labor Party (ALP) until 1950 and then sat as an Independent Labor ...

. Geraghty had been elected as a Labor member in 1941 but had been expelled from the party in 1949 for breaking caucus solidarity during an indirect election of the Legislative Council. Maher was finally elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the member for North Sydney at the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

election, when he defeated Geraghty. Maher retained the seat until it was abolished at the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

election. He subsequently successfully contested the new seat of

Wyong Wyong () is a town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, located approximately 63 km SSW of Newcastle and 89 km NNE of Sydney. Established in 1888, it is one of the two administrative centres for the local government area. Hist ...

which he retained until he retired from parliament at the

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

election.

Speaker

Maher succeeded

Bill Lamb William Henry Lamb (5 January 1889 – 8 January 1964) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1938 until 1962 and a member of the NSW Branch of the Labor Party and the Lang Labor Party. ...

as the

after the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

election and retained the position until he was forced to resign from the position in January 1965, four months before the end of the parliamentary term. The parliamentary web site states that Maher: "managed to maintain the independence of the office...(He) developed a reputation for consistent rulings and for actively protecting and improving the rights and privileges of the Members of Parliament." In early 1965 he was accused by a female staff member of sexual harassment by exposing his genitalia. Maher claimed that he had forgotten to adjust the zip on his pants after visiting the toilet. However, he resigned from the position of speaker and did not contest the election held four months later. He was eventually acquitted of criminal charges but the scandal contributed to Labor's loss at the 1965 election after 24 years of continuous government. Maher died 18 months later at the age of 55.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Ray 1911 births 1966 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Speakers of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Place of death missing University of Sydney alumni