William Smith Harvey (3 December 1882 – 15 March 1954) was an Australian politician. He who represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the South Australian Legislative Council, Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament House in the st ...

multi-member An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

seat of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

from 1918 to 1933. He was a Labor member until the 1932 Labor split, when he was among the MPs to sit as part of the

Parliamentary Labor Party The Parliamentary Labor Party (also known as the Premiers' Plan Labor Party or Ministerial Labor Party) was a political party active in South Australia from August 1931 until June 1934. The party came into existence as a result of intense dispu ...

, but lost his seat at the 1933 election. Harvey was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, the son of a blacksmith. He went to

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 ...

at the age of thirteen and worked in the Kalgoorlie gold mines. He came to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in 1910, where he became an organiser for the United Labourers Union 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 exer ...

and worked on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the east ...

. He was also the president of the Port Augusta branch of the Labor Party and the party's Newcastle electorate committee. He was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1918 election for the

district, located in the southern

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

. He had lost a by-election for the same seat in a 1917 by-election. In 1930,

Lionel Hill Lionel Laughton Hill (14 May 1881 – 19 March 1963) was an Australian politician who served as the thirtieth Premier of South Australia, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Early life Born in Adelaide, So ...

attempted to appoint Harvey as an assistant minister pending a bill that would allow him to enlarge the size of his ministry, but the bill was blocked in the Legislative Council, forcing Harvey to resign. At that time, he had been working on addressing the needs of the unemployed camped along the

Torrens River The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

, resulting in several hundred of them being accommodated in the

Jubilee Exhibition Building The Jubilee Exhibition Building in Adelaide, South Australia, was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837. The jubilees of her Coronation on 28 June 1838, and of the Proclamation of Sou ...

. In August 1931, he broke with the Labor Party as part of the 1931 Labor split over the

Premiers' Plan The Premiers' Plan was a deflationary economic policy agreed by a meeting of the Premiers of the Australian states in June 1931 to combat the Great Depression in Australia that sparked the 1931 Labor split. Background The Great Depression ...

. Although there was dispute over whether he personally had been expelled as he had been absent during the Premiers' Plan vote, he sat with the renegade

, consisting of the expelled Cabinet, and served as Acting Government Whip in the aftermath. In December, he was one of three PLP MPs to offer to assist federal Labor in the 1931 federal election campaign; however, official Labor threatened

Andrew Lacey Andrew William Lacey (19 October 1887 – 24 August 1946) was the 22nd Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Australia from 1933 to 1938, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Lacey was previousl ...

with retribution if he shared a platform with Harvey. In April 1932, he proposed a unity conference in conjunction with the federal Labor Party, but was rebuffed by the PLP caucus. In August, along with Thomas Butterfield, he publicly condemned the PLP's coalition with their previous opponents the

Liberal Federation The Liberal Federation was a South Australian political party from 16 October 1923 to 1932. It came into existence as a merger between the rival Liberal Union and National Party, to oppose Labor. Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the ...

. However, he remained loyal to the PLP, and became secretary of their election organising committee. He was one of many MPs from the three Labor factions defeated at the 1933 election. Harvey returned to working as a labourer after his election defeat, and in 1941 was working as a munition worker at TJ Richards & Sons. He unsuccessfully contested a seat in the Legislative Council at the 1941 election. Harvey remained involved in the Australian Workers' Union after his electoral defeat, holding every electoral office except secretary. He was reported to be state returning officer of the union in 1952. He lived at Camden Park for many years. He died in an

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

private hospital in 1954. Harvey's family life was marred by tragedy: he was reported to have had four sets of twins in six years, all of whom died, and a 12-year-old son, Ronald, died of

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...

in 1935. He was reported to have had five surviving children in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, William Smith 1882 births 1954 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians