Walter Richardson (4 June 1871 – 25 February 1959) was an Australian 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 1921 to 1933, representing the seat of Subiaco. Richardson was born in

Saddleworth, South Australia Saddleworth is a small town in the Mid North region of South Australia. The town is situated on the Gilbert River and along with neighbouring towns of Riverton, Rhynie and Tarlee the local area is known as the Gilbert Valley. The town is b ...

, to Elizabeth (née Ramsay) and Henry Richardson. He came to Western Australia in 1896, and set up as a storekeeper. He was elected to the Subiaco Municipal Council in 1907, serving until 1912, and was later mayor of the municipality from 1920 to 1921.Samuel McConnell Brown
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 29 May 2016. Richardson first ran for parliament at the 1908 state election, unsuccessfully standing for the Labor Party in Subiaco. His opponent was

Henry Daglish Henry Daglish (18 November 1866 – 16 August 1920) was an Australian politician who was the sixth premier of Western Australia and the first from the Labor Party, serving from 10 August 1904 to 25 August 1905. Daglish was born in Ballarat, V ...

, a former Labor

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 ...

who had transferred to the Ministerialists. After the Labor Party split of 1916, Richardson joined the new

National Labor Party The National Labor Party was formed by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1916, following the 1916 Labor split on the issue of World War I conscription in Australia. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party and Pri ...

. He served as the party's state secretary from 1920 to 1924, and recontested Subiaco for the party at the 1921 election, defeating both a Labor candidate and the sitting

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

member,

Samuel Brown Samuel Brown may refer to: * Samuel Brown (Royal Navy officer) (1776–1852), English pioneer suspension bridge engineer and inventor * Samuel Brown (engineer) (died 1849), English inventor of early internal combustion engine * Samuel Brown (Wisco ...

. After the 1924 election, when the National Labor Party was dissolved, Richardson joined the Nationalists himself. He was re-elected at the 1930 election, but in the Labor landslide at the 1933 election lost his seat to John Moloney. Richardson attempted to reclaim his seat at the next two elections, but was unsuccessful on both occasions. He returned to the Subiaco Municipal Council, serving a second term as mayor (from 1936 to 1943), and made one last run for parliament at the 1956 election, at the age of 84. Richardson died in Perth in February 1959, aged 87. He had married Mary Ann O'Leary in 1896, with whom he had three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Walter 1871 births 1959 deaths Australian Labor Party politicians Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Western Australia People from South Australia Western Australian local councillors