John Arthur (politician)

John Arthur

John Andrew Arthur (born August 15, 1875 in Castlemaine , Victoria , † December 9, 1914 in Melbourne ) was an Australian politician and, among other things, foreign minister of the country.

Life

Arthur was born in Castlemaine ( Victoria ), the son of a gold prospector and spent his childhood in various gold mining towns in Victoria. A government scholarship allowed him to attend Grenville College in Ballarat for three years. In 1895 he graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts . As a good and ambitious student he was able to do his Master of Arts in 1897 and then his Bachelor of Laws in 1898, and finally his Master of Laws in 1901. He then worked at Queen's College, teaching philosophy, political economy, history and law.

He became a respected judge in the new federal courts, most notably the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, and represented the Agricultural Implement Makers' Union in the Harvester case, which led to the introduction of the subsistence level that was applied in Australia until the 1990s .

Political career

In the 1913 elections, he defeated his adversary John Quick and won a seat in the House of Representatives (in the Bendigo constituency ) for the Australian Labor Party . He was known for his lively participation in parliamentary debates. He also continued his work as a lawyer for Australian industry and often traveled from the then government seat in Melbourne to the metropolis of Sydney . The 1914 election campaign and his work on the court during the election of Chris Watson's government left him in bed for long periods of time in poor health. He was present at the party meeting on September 17, and on the same day he was appointed foreign minister of the country. From then on, his health deteriorated rapidly and he died of acute kidney failure in his home in Melbourne on December 9, 1914 . He left behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.

literature

• John R. Thompson: Arthur, John Andrew (1875-1914) . In: Geoffrey C. Bolton (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Australian National University, Carlon, Victoria 1979 (19 vols., Here especially vol. 7).