David John O'Keefe (21 August 1864 – 21 July 1943) was an Australian politician and journalist. He was a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP) and served in both houses of federal parliament, as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

(1901–1906, 1910–1920) and holding the

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

(1922–1925). He subsequently entered state parliament, serving as

Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly The Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Tasmania. The role of Speaker (politics), Speaker has traditionally been a partisan office, filled by the governing party of the time. ...

(1934–1942). Prior to entering politics he had been the editor of the ''

Zeehan and Dundas Herald The ''Zeehan and Dundas Herald'' (also seen as ''Zeehan Dundas Herald'') was a newspaper for the West Coast Tasmania community, based in Zeehan and Dundas from 1890 to 1922. It was published by William Lawrence Calder and Joseph Bowden, with ...

'' on Tasmania's west coast.

Early life

O'Keefe was "probably" born on 21 August 1864 in

Longford, Tasmania Longford is a town in the northern midlands of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 145 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River (Tasmania), Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston, Tasmania, Launc ...

. He was the son of Mary Ann (née McCullagh) and David John O'Keefe, his father being a farmer. He attended the state school in Carrick until the age of 14, after which he worked as a labourer and farmhand. He moved to

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

at the age of 17 and worked as a gold miner for four years, operating the

stamp battery Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

used to process the results of

quartz reef mining Quartz reef mining is a type of gold mining in "reefs" ( veins) of quartz. Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the Earth's crust, and most quartz veins do not carry gold, but those that have gold are avidly hunted by prospectors. In the ...

. O'Keefe subsequently purchased a small newsagency in Beaconsfield, which was destroyed in a fire but later rebuilt. He was also the Beaconsfield correspondent for Launceston's ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''. In 1891, O'Keefe moved to

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan and neighbouring mining towns of Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater Zeehan a ...

on Tasmania's west coast. He was the editor of the ''

'' from 1894 to 1899. He "made a study of mineralogy and put his learning to good use by writing many articles on west-coast mines for Tasmanian and mainland newspapers, as well as examining and reporting on many mining propositions". After resigning from the ''Herald'' in 1899 he moved to Queensland and reported for Melbourne's '' Argus'' on the copper fields at

Chillagoe Chillagoe is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Chillagoe had a population of 214 people. It was once a thriving mining town for a range of minerals, but is now reduced to a small ...

and

Mount Garnet Mount Garnet is a rural town and locality in the Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Mount Garnet had a population of 532 people. Geography Various small communities populate the area around Mount Garnet. These ...

Federal politics

In 1901, O'Keefe was elected to the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

, running with endorsement from the

Protectionist Party The Protectionist Party, also known as the Protectionist Liberal Party or Liberal Protectionist Party, was an Politics of Australia, Australian political party, formally organised from 1887 until 1909, with policies centred on protectionism. T ...

, as there was no Labour Party in Tasmania at the time; however, he joined the

caucus in Parliament. He was defeated in 1906, but re-elected in 1910, serving until his defeat in 1919 (taking effect in 1920). O'Keefe served as Chairman of Committees from 1910 to 1914. In 1922, he was elected to the

, defeating Labor-turned-

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

MP William Laird Smith for the seat of Denison. He was the first Tasmanian to have served in both houses of federal parliament.

Later life

He was defeated in 1925 by Nationalist Sir John Gellibrand and worked in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

for some time before returning to Tasmania in 1931. In 1934 O'Keefe was elected to 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 Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

, immediately taking the position of

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

. He held the Speaker's position until 1942 and died the following year.

Personal life

In 1897, O'Keefe married Sara Frances (née Wilson), with whom he had four children. He was widowed in 1921 and remarried in 1924 to Agnes Hughes (née Blong). He died while on a trip to Melbourne on 21 July 1943 at

Brighton, Victoria Brighton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Bayside Local government areas of Victo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeefe, David 1864 births 1943 deaths Australian people of Irish descent Australian miners Australian newspaper editors Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Tasmania Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Denison Members of the Australian House of Representatives Speakers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian MPs 1922–1925 Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George