Alexander Poynton OBE (8 August 1853 – 9 January 1935) was an Australian politician. He held ministerial office under Prime Minister Billy Hughes, serving as

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

(1916–1917), Minister for Home and Territories (1920–1921), and Postmaster-General (1921–1923). Poynton was a shearer and union leader before entering politics. He served in 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 Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was crea ...

(1893–1901) as a supporter of the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

before winning election to the House of Representatives at the 1901 federal election. Following the Australian Labor Party split of 1916 he followed Hughes into the Nationalist Party. He lost his seat at the 1922 election.

Early life

Poynton was born on 8 August 1853 in Castlemaine, Victoria. He was the son of Rosanna (née McFadden) and Alexander Poynton; his mother was Irish and his father was from

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, England. He left school at the age of 14 and subsequently worked as a miner, station-hand, and shearer. He married Harriet Brown in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

in 1880. Poynton was involved in the

Australian labour movement The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial (Australian unions) and political wings (Australian Labor Party). Trade unions in Australia may be organised (i.e., formed) o ...

from its beginnings. He was president of the

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 populati ...

branch of the Amalgamated Miners' Association and in 1886 became the inaugural treasurer of the Amalgamated Shearers' Union of Australasia (ASU). The following year he moved to Port Augusta, South Australia, to work as an ASU organiser. He was secretary of the local branch.

Colonial politics

With his support in the

, Poynton unsuccessfully stood for the

seat of Newcastle at the 1890 election, before his election to the adjacent seat of Flinders at the 1893 election, serving as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Labor MP.Items of news, Kalgoorlie Western Argus: Trove 22 April 1896
/ref> As an Independent Labor MP he attended the United Labor Party caucus meetings without being bound by its decisions, but supported it in divisions.Alexander Poynton: ADB
/ref> By 1899, however, disaffection with

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 ...

Charles Kingston led him to cross the floor with four others to defeat his ministry, citing Kingston's overbearing nature and his tardiness in implementing adequate land reforms as motives. His actions earned him a place as Commissioner for Crown Lands in the

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

ministry in 1899, which lasted only eight days. Poynton's decisive role in ousting Kingston lost him many Labor friends. He served in the House of Assembly until 1901.

Federal politics

In 1901 Poynton successfully stood for the Australian House of Representatives in the inaugural federal election as a

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member for the Division of South Australia (which was not divided into electorates). Though labelled a Free Trader, he was actually an

Australasian National League The National Defence League (NDL) was an independent conservative political party, founded in 1891 by MLC Richard Baker in South Australia as an immediate response to the perceived threat from Labor. Though renamed the Australasian National Lea ...

(National Defence League) candidate. At the 1903 election, South Australia was split into single-member electorates, and Poynton was elected as the first member for the

Division of Grey The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who ...

in the vast northern region of South Australia. In May 1904 he became a pledged Labour member. During his time in parliament Poynton served variously as a member of the royal commission on stripper harvesters, chairman of committees,

, Minister for Home and Territories and Postmaster-General. Among his political achievements was the establishment of a railway between Port Augusta and Western Australia, for which he lobbied nearly 18 years. During fiery internal party debates on the issue of conscription during World War I, Poynton became a strong conscriptionist. Along with several other pro-conscription Labor members, he left the party in November 1916 in support of Labor leader and Prime Minister Billy Hughes to help found first the National Labor Party and later the Nationalist Party. Appointed OBE in 1920 for his work on repatriation issues, Poynton was defeated at the 1922 election.

Death

He died in Toorak Gardens and was buried in North Road Cemetery. His wife, a son and four daughters survived him.

References

* __
Details of Poynton's OBE
* van den Hoorn, R. (1988)

, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, Carlton.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poynton, Alexander Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Officers of the Order of the British Empire Treasurers of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Grey Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia 1935 deaths 1853 births National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Burials at North Road Cemetery 20th-century Australian politicians