Thomas Joseph Ryan (politician, 1876)

Statue of Ryan in Brisbane

Thomas Joseph "TJ" Ryan (born July 1, 1876 , Port Fairy , Vitoria ; † August 1, 1921 , Barcaldine , Queensland ) was Prime Minister of Queensland, Australia from May 1915 to October 1919 and a politician for the Australian Labor Party .

Life

Thomas Ryan went to school at South Melbourne College (now: Xavier College) and studied at the University of Melbourne , where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law . He qualified in both the sciences of art as well as in law to the master and taught as a teacher at various grammar schools in Melbourne , Launceston , Maryborough and Rockhampton . He gave up his teaching post in December, worked in Queensland in court and was admitted to the lower courts in Rockhampton and higher courts in Brisbane. In Rockhampton, he joined the Australian Natives Association in 1900 and became its regional president.

He married in 1910 and had a son and a daughter.

Political career

Thomas Ryan ran for MPs twice to no avail. In October 1909 he entered parliament for the Australian Labor Party in Queensland, where he stayed for ten years. After re-election in Queensland in 1912, he was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party to succeed David Bowman .

Ryan's administration was the Labor Party's first majority rule in Queensland. Some of the eight members of his cabinet came from the sheep shearers' strike of 1891 , which ultimately led to the formation of the Australian Labor Party. His government set an example for future Australian Labor governments with its pro-worker policies, as this government remained in power in Queensland until 1957 after its first election victory. The reform of workers 'and farm workers' rights was the main focus of his reign. In the May 1915 election, the Labor Party was elected by a large majority and Ryan became Prime Minister and Attorney General. His government passed numerous social laws, for example, for arbitration in industrial disputes, regulations for dismissals and compensation of workers, occupational safety and security on work scaffolding, and laws on trade and business transactions. These legal regulations favored state and private welfare, as well as the development of state economic activities in the railroad and hotel sectors . Coal mines were opened, the iron and steel industry developed, and a state insurance system was established. In 1918 Ryan was re-elected by a large majority. He led the Labor Party at the federal level during the 1919 election and was elected to the House of Representatives.

Ryan was the only Prime Minister of Australia who actively opposed the introduction of general conscription in Australia by Billy Hughes in the two referendums of 1916 and 1917 .

Honors

The plaque of his statue in Queens Gardens in Brisbane is engraved: Teacher-Jurist-Statesman. An electoral district in Australia, the Division of Ryan, is named after him.

Web links

• W. Ross Johnston: Ryan, Thomas Joseph (1876-1921) , Australian Dictionary of Biography , Australian National University.
• Thomas Joseph Ryan on gutenberg.net.au