Alexander Poynton
| The Honourable Alexander Poynton OBE |
|
|---|---|
| File:Alexander Poynton.jpg | |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for South Australia |
|
| In office 30 March 1901 – 16 December 1903 Serving with Lee Batchelor, Langdon Bonython, Paddy Glynn, Frederick Holder, Charles Kingston, Vaiben Louis Solomon |
|
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Grey |
|
| In office 16 December 1903 – 16 December 1922 |
|
| Preceded by | New seat |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Lacey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 August 1853 Castlemaine, Victoria |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Toorak Gardens, South Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Political party | Ind. Labor (1893–1901) Free Trade (1901–02) Labor (1902–16) National Labor (1916–17) Nationalist (1917–22) |
| Spouse(s) | Harriet Brown |
| Occupation | Shearer, miner |
Alexander Poynton, OBE, (8 August 1853 – 9 January 1935) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1893 to 1901, representing Flinders. He was an inaugural member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901, representing South Australia until 1903 and Grey thereafter until his defeat in 1922.
Early life
Born in Castlemaine, Victoria to Alexander, who took part in the Eureka Stockade rebellion, and Rosanna Poynton, Poynton left school at 14 to work as a shearer, station-hand and miner, and marry Harriet Brown on 15 July 1880 in Ballarat before moving to South Australia in 1887 and settling in Port Augusta, where he founded the South Australian Shearers Union in 1888.
Parliament
Colonial
With his support in the labour movement, Poynton unsuccessfully stood for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Newcastle at the 1890 election, before his election to the adjacent seat of Flinders at the 1893 election, serving as an Independent Labor MP.[1] As an Independent Labor MP he attended the United Labor Party caucus meetings without being bound by its decisions, but supported it in divisions.[2]
By 1899, however, disaffection with Premier Charles Kingston led him to cross the floor with four others to defeat his ministry, citing Kingston's overbearing nature and his tardiness in implementing adequate land reforms as motives. His actions earned him a place as Commissioner for Crown Lands in the Vaiben Solomon ministry in 1899, which lasted only eight days. Poynton's decisive role in ousting Kingston lost him many Labor friends.[2]
He served in the House of Assembly until 1901.[2]
Federal
In 1901 Poynton successfully stood for the Australian House of Representatives in the inaugural federal election as a Free Trade Party member for the Division of South Australia (which was not divided into electorates). Though labelled a Free Trader, he was actually an Australasian National League (National Defence League) candidate. But in 1902 he became a pledged Labor member, and at the 1903 election he was elected as the Labor member for the Division of Grey, an electorate he represented until 1922.[2]
During his time in parliament Poynton served variously as a member of the royal commission on stripper harvesters, chairman of committees, Treasurer, Minister for Home and Territories and Postmaster-General. Among his political achievements was the establishment of a railway between Port Augusta and Western Australia, for which he lobbied nearly 18 years.
During World War I Poynton was a strong supporter of conscription and, following fiery internal party debates on the issue, Poynton left the ALP in November 1916 in support of Labor leader and Prime Minister Billy Hughes to help found first the National Labor Party and later the Nationalist Party. Appointed OBE in 1920 for his work on repatriation issues, Poynton was defeated at the 1922 election.
Death
He died in Toorak Gardens and was buried in North Road Cemetery. His wife, a son and four daughters survived him.
References
- ___ Details of Poynton's OBE
- van den Hoorn, R. (1988) 'Poynton, Alexander (1853–1935)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, Carlton.
Notes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Treasurer of Australia 1916–1917 |
Succeeded by Sir John Forrest |
| Preceded by | Minister for Home and Territories 1920–1921 |
Succeeded by George Pearce |
| Preceded by | Postmaster-General 1921–1923 |
Succeeded by William Gibson |
| Parliament of Australia | ||
| New division | Member for South Australia 1901–1903 Served alongside: Batchelor, Bonython, Glynn, Holder, Kingston, Solomon |
Divided into single- member divisions |
| New division | Member for Grey 1903–1922 |
Succeeded by Andrew Lacey |
- Use Australian English from December 2015
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- Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
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- Nationalist Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Treasurers of Australia
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Grey
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives
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- Australian sheep shearers
- 1935 deaths
- 1853 births
- National Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
