William Smith Harvey (3 December 1882 – 15 March 1954) was an Australian politician. He who represented the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

multi-member An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...

seat of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

from 1918 to 1933. He was a Labor member until the 1932 Labor split, when he was among the MPs to sit as part of the

Parliamentary Labor Party The Parliamentary Labor Party (also known as the Premiers' Plan Labor Party or Ministerial Labor Party) was a political party active in South Australia from August 1931 until June 1934. The party came into existence as a result of intense dispu ...

, but lost his seat at the 1933 election.

Biography

Harvey was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

, the son of a blacksmith. He went to

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 ...

at the age of thirteen and worked in the

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

gold mines. He came to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

in 1910, where he became an organiser for the United Labourers Union and the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoralism, pastoral and mining industries in the late 1880s and it currently has approximately 80,000 ...

and worked on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta railway station, Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie railway station, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. Built to standa ...

. He was also the president of the

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

branch of the Labor Party and the party's Newcastle electorate committee. He was elected to the House of Assembly at the 1918 election for the

district, located in the southern

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...

. He had lost a by-election for the same seat in a 1917 by-election. In 1930,

Lionel Hill Lionel Laughton Hill (14 May 1881 – 19 March 1963) was an Australian politician who served as the thirtieth Premier of South Australia, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party. Early life Born in Adelaide, So ...

attempted to appoint Harvey as an assistant minister pending a bill that would allow him to enlarge the size of his ministry, but the bill was blocked in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, forcing Harvey to resign. At that time, he had been working on addressing the needs of the unemployed camped along the

Torrens River The River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the Ad ...

, resulting in several hundred of them being accommodated in the

Jubilee Exhibition Building The Jubilee Exhibition Building in Adelaide, South Australia, was built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne on 20 June 1837. The jubilees of her Coronation on 28 June 183 ...

Political career

In August 1931, he broke with the Labor Party as part of the 1931 Labor split over the

Premiers' Plan The Premiers' Plan was a deflationary economic policy agreed by a meeting of the Premiers of the Australian states in June 1931 to combat the Great Depression in Australia that sparked the 1931 Labor split. Background The Great Depress ...

. Although there was dispute over whether he personally had been expelled as he had been absent during the Premiers' Plan vote, he sat with the renegade

, consisting of the expelled Cabinet, and served as Acting Government Whip in the aftermath. In December, he was one of three PLP MPs to offer to assist federal Labor in the 1931 federal election campaign; however, official Labor threatened Andrew Lacey with retribution if he shared a platform with Harvey. In April 1932, he proposed a unity conference in conjunction with the federal Labor Party, but was rebuffed by the PLP caucus. In August, along with Thomas Butterfield, he publicly condemned the PLP's coalition with their previous opponents the

Liberal Federation The Liberal Federation was a South Australian political party from 16 October 1923 to 1932. It came into existence as a merger between the rival Liberal Union and National Party, to oppose Labor. Encouraged by the overwhelming success of the ...

. However, he remained loyal to the PLP, and became secretary of their election organising committee. He was one of many MPs from the three Labor factions defeated at the 1933 election.

Later life and legacy

Harvey returned to working as a labourer after his election defeat, and in 1941 was working as a munition worker at TJ Richards & Sons. He unsuccessfully contested a seat in the Legislative Council at the 1941 election. Harvey remained involved in the Australian Workers' Union after his electoral defeat, holding every electoral office except secretary. He was reported to be state returning officer of the union in 1952. He lived at Camden Park for many years. He died in an

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

private hospital in 1954. Harvey's family life was marred by tragedy: he was reported to have had four sets of twins in six years, all of whom died, and a 12-year-old son, Ronald, died of

tetanus Tetanus (), also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'' and characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually l ...

in 1935. He was reported to have had five surviving children in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, William Smith 1882 births 1954 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Trans-Australian Railway