Jens August Jensen (2 May 1865 – 16 November 1936) was an Australian politician who served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1910 to 1919. He was a minister in the governments of

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

and

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

, serving as Minister for the Navy from 1915 to 1917 and Minister for Trade and Customs from 1917 to 1918.

Early life

Jensen was born on 2 May 1865 in

Sebastopol, Victoria Sebastopol is a southern suburb on the rural-urban fringe of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. It is the third most populated area in urban Ballarat with a population of 10,194 at the . It is named after Sevastopol in Crimea, the site of an impor ...

, on the outskirts of

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 ...

. His Danish parents Anna Marie Christine () and Anthon Jensen had immigrated to Australia during the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capit ...

; he was their third son. Jensen attended state schools until the age of 11, when he began working as a stable boy. He moved to

Beaconsfield, Tasmania Beaconsfield is a former gold mining town near the Tamar River, in the north-east of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 40 kilometres north of Launceston on the West Tamar Highway. It is a rural and residential locality in the local government areas ...

, in 1878 and worked as a rabbit hawker and miner; he eventually gained his

engine driver A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

's certificate. In 1885, Jensen married Elizabeth Frances Broadhurst. The couple had one son and four daughters before her death in 1894. He remarried in 1896 to Bertha Hopton, with whom he had another son and daughter. Also in 1896, Jensen built a hotel and theatre in Beaconsfield. He later opened a larger establishment at Beauty Point, and bought an orchard nearby. He was elected to the Beaconsfield Town Council in 1899.

Political career

In 1903 Jensen was elected as the member for George Town in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

as an independent and was re-elected as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

candidate for George Town in 1906 and Wilmot 1909 and was Chief Secretary in a Labor government for eight days in October 1909. In February 1910 he resigned from the House of Assembly and won the seat of

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

in the

at the April 1910 election. He served as an Assistant Minister and then in July 1915 he became the first Minister for the Navy in the

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

and

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

governments. When a group of pro-conscription ALP members under Billy Hughes broke away in the 1916 Labor split to form the National Labor Party, Jensen joined them. Hughes retained government after the split, and Jensen was appointed Minister for Trade and Customs. Along with the other members of National Labor, Jensen joined the

Commonwealth Liberal Party The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fu ...

in forming the

Nationalist Party of Australia The Nationalist Party, also known as the National Party, was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the latter formed by Prime Min ...

. In 1918, Jensen was investigated by the Royal Commission on Navy and Defence Administration. When the Commission found against him, he was forced to resign from the ministry. He subsequently lost his endorsement to contest his seat at the 1919 election. Though he attempted to contest the seat as an independent, he was defeated by the endorsed Nationalist candidate, Syd Jackson. Jensen subsequently shifted to state politics, elected to the

seat of

in 1922. After losing his seat in 1925, he rejoined the ALP in 1927, and was elected for Wilmot, holding it until 1934.

Personal life

Jensen at times treated his wife violently and for the last 37 years of his life kept his cousin, Maggie Jane Gilbert as his mistress and gave her almost all of his wealth. He died of a stroke in the Melbourne suburb of South Caulfield, Victoria, survived by his wife and their son and daughter. He left no money to them or the children of his first marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Jens August 1865 births 1936 deaths Australian people of Danish descent Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Australia Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bass Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania Independent members of the Parliament of Tasmania 20th-century Australian politicians People from Ballarat Tasmanian local councillors