Theophilus William John Keast (6 June 1872 – 16 September 1938) was an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party 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 1930 to 1932, representing the electorate of Ashburnham. Keast was born at

Creswick Creswick is a town in west-central Victoria, Australia, 18 kilometres north of Ballarat and 122 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, in the Shire of Hepburn. It is 430 metres above sea level. At the 2016 census, Creswick had a populatio ...

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 ...

, but moved with his family to

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

at an early age. He worked as an engine driver for a period, during which time he lost an eye in an accident. He operated a bakery from 1903 to 1910, when he sold out and established another bakery at

Bogan Gate Bogan Gate is a small village in Parkes Shire of the Central West of New South Wales, Australia. At the , Bogan Gate and the surrounding area had a population of 307. Bogan Gate is derived from the local Aboriginal word meaning "the birthpl ...

. He worked as a stock and station agent from 1914 to 1918; from 1918 onwards he was a farmer at Bogan Gate. He was an alderman of the Parkes Shire Council from 1925 until 1931 and 1933 until 1938, serving as mayor from 1929 to 1930. He also served for a time as chairman of the Parkes District Hospital Board. Keast was preselected to contest the newly recreated seat of Ashburnham for Labor at the 1927 state election, but was defeated by

Edmund Best Edmund Carncross Best (26 March 1869 – 22 July 1944) was an Australian politician. He was born at Forbes to bootmaker Christopher Best and Catherine Mary, ''née'' Doran. He received a primary education before working in a store, eventuall ...

, then the MLA for Murrumbidgee. He recontested the seat at the 1930 election, and defeated Best amidst Labor's landslide victory under Jack Lang. His time in politics was to be short-lived, however; the Lang government was sacked by the state Governor in 1932, and Keast was one of many Labor MLAs to lose at the subsequent election. He attempted to regain the seat in 1935, but was again unsuccessful. Keast died at Parkes in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keast, William 1872 births 1938 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales People from Creswick, Victoria