William Alfred Murphy (1 March 1858 – 11 October 1929) was an English-born Australian politician. He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England and was educated there and in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He worked for a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based firm before going to sea and arriving in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia in 1879. He returned for a period to England, but was soon a key figure in the New South Wales labour movement. In 1891 he was elected to 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 ...

for Balmain representing the new Labor Party, but disputes over the pledge led to him contesting the 1894 election as a Protectionist unsuccessfully. Murphy moved to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

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 ...

around the time of the conclusion of his New South Wales parliamentary term. He worked for the Customs Department for eight years before going into business as a customs agent. He was

Mayor of Fremantle Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Austr ...

from 1907 to 1909, and was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1910 to 1911, representing the electorate of

. He died in his house in Hampton Road, Fremantle in 1929 and was buried at Fremantle Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, William Alfred 1858 births 1929 deaths Burials at Fremantle Cemetery Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Protectionist Party politicians Mayors of Fremantle British emigrants Immigrants to colonial Australia Colony of New South Wales people